Canada pension body sets up shop in India

Plans to double India allocation

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), a pension fund that invests the assets of that country's pension plan, has opened its first investment office in India. This is the fund’s seventh office abroad.

The CPPIB, a world’s leading pension group, plans to double India weightage over the next eight years.

Mark Wiseman, president & CEO, CPPIB said India investments are currently 1 per cent of its global assets and over the next seven-eight years it could be doubled to two per cent. This could entail an investment of up to $6 billion in India by 2023, as per back of the envelope calculations.

CPPIB has already invested $2 billion in India since it first started investing in the country in 2010.

“We view India as a key growth market that aligns with our strategy of seeking investments in markets that we believe will deliver attractive long-term risk-adjusted returns,” said Wiseman.  Wiseman added CPPIB would significantly scale up its investments in India, although it declined to give specific targets.

Headquartered in Toronto, CPPIB has offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, New York and São Paulo.

As of June 30, 2015, the CPP fund had net assets of over $200 billion, making it Canada’s largest single-purpose pension fund and the 10 largest retirement funds in the world.

CPPIB has invested C$33.2 billion in the Asia Pacific region in real estate, public equities, private and real estate investment funds, and direct investments. These investments represent 16.3 per cent of CPPIB’s total assets as of June 30, 2015.

Although CPPIB prefers investing with its fund partners, it is pursuing direct investments in real estate, private equity and infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region.

In India, it has invested through its partners L&T, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Enterprises and Shapoorji Pallonji Group. It has also invested in two private equity funds, Multiples Alternate Asset Management and India Value Fund Advisors.

The pension fund has a diversified portfolio with over five per cent of investment in infrastructure, 11.5 per cent in real estate and over 50 per cent in non-traditional assets.

Geographically, it has 38 per cent of its assets in the US, 24 per cent in Canada and about eight per cent in Asia (excluding Japan).