Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Montreal, earned C$7.9 billion (US$7.8 billion), or 5.6% on investments for the year ended Dec. 31, according to a statement accompanying the C$155.4 billion plan’s annual report. Returns include a C$1.9 billion unrealized loss in asset-backed commercial paper, all but C$500 million of which is expected to be recovered at maturity. Performance was 57 basis points lower than the fund’s custom benchmark, but 72 basis points above the benchmark if the commercial paper loss was discounted.
Real estate was the leading investment, returning 20.3%, which lagged the fund’s Aon-Real Estate index’s 24.4%. Emerging markets equity returned 17%, trailing the MSCI Emerging Markets index return of 18.2%, and private equity came in at 16.2%, which topped the fund’s custom index return of 3.8%. The allocation to real estate, private equity, infrastructure and hedge funds grew to 35.1% from 19.6% in 2003. Five-year returns as of Dec. 31 were 12.4%, which is 82 basis points over the benchmark.