Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Toronto, returned 11.2%, or C$11.7 billion (US$11.8 billion), on its investments in 2011, according to a news release posted on the fund's website.
Net assets for the year totaled a record-high C$117.1 billion. The plan had an estimated funding shortfall of C$9.6 billion as of Jan. 1, down from C$17.2 billion at the end of 2010.
CEM Benchmarking said the fund had the highest 10-year total fund and value-added returns of the pension plans it studies around the world, said Deborah Allen, OTTP spokeswoman.
Fixed income had the highest return for the year at 19.9%, followed by real assets, 13.1%. Within the real assets portfolio, real estate returned 18.1%; infrastructure, 7.7%; and timberland, 0.8%. The combined public and private equity class returned -0.8%, but private equity investments returned 16.8% for the year, outpacing the benchmark return of -0.2%. Commodities returned -2.3%.
“Our team's 2011 performance was especially impressive, given the market volatility and economic uncertainty that accompanied the eurozone debt situation, and was compounded by the year's natural disasters,” said Jim Leech, president and CEO, in a news release.
Mr. Leech was not available for additional comment by press time.
