CPP gets 5% bump in fourth quarter

The Canada Pension Plan, Ottawa, earned 5%, or C$3.1 billion (US$2.4 billion), on its assets in the fourth quarter, and 13.9%, or C$8 billion, in the nine months ended Dec. 31. The plan had C$66.3 billion in total assets in the fourth quarter, up C$1.8 billion from the third quarter, the board said. The growth is the result of "diversification by the CPP Investment Board into publicly traded equities and strong equity markets," John MacNaughton, investment board president and CEO, said in a statement. The CPP Investment Board runs C$30.9 billion in equities and real estate for the Canada Pension Plan; the federal finance department runs the remaining C$35.4 billion in bonds.