The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is adjusting its investment strategies in private equity and real estate in response to the global financial crisis.
Private Advisors 2008-11-01 Staff Writer <italic>Head office</italic>Tel: 1 804 289 60001800 Bayberry CourtFax: 1 804 289 6001RichmondVA 23226<italic>Others offices</italic> New York, NY;United States of AmericaLondon, United Kingdom<strong>ASSETS / FUNDS UNDER MANAGEMENT</st
Real estate was the only asset class to make a positive return for the $29.5bn pension fund, however allocations to private equity real estate have now topped 10.5% against a target of 8%.
The $38.3bn pension has committed $50m apiece to Blackstone, GI Partners and Edgewater. The fund also said it is cooperating in a federal investigation into an alleged kickback scheme.
The $1.7bn pension started investing in real estate just three years ago, however it is now considering increasing its target allocation by 3% and investing in international real estate for the first time. The plan said it was 'shutting off two-thirds' of the world by focusing on the US.
The Canadian pension has set aside an additional C$1.4bn to invest with opportunistic fund managers, and directly, targeting US and UK distressed real estate.
Jay Fewel, OPERF senior investment officer, said over-allocation and the burden of re-upping with existing GPs will leave little money for any group that doesn’t already have an established relationship with the $54.4bn pension.
The London-headquartered mid-market investor has nearly doubled the size of its previous fund, garnering large re-ups from existing investors like CalPERS.
One of the UK’s largest pension funds has awarded Capital Dynamics a discretionary mandate to focus on investments in Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
The city will look to invest in domestic infrastructure funds after making an initial investment in the asset class earlier this year and taking a beating in its US equity allocation over the last few weeks, according to New York City Comptroller William Thompson.