Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Montreal, returned 13.1% on its investments in 2013, raising total assets to C$200.1 billion (US$180 billion).
Caisse, which manages assets for provincial, municipal and other pension funds in Quebec as well as other provincial entities, saw assets increase 13.6% from the end of 2012, according to Caisse's earnings statement released Wednesday. Its 2013 investment return was above its custom benchmark of 12.6%.
In 2012, Caisse returned 9.6% on its investments.
The overall investment portfolio generated C$22.8 billion for the year, propelled by a 23.7% return in its public equity portfolio. Private equity returned 19.7%; its inflation-sensitive portfolio, including infrastructure and real estate, returned 12.5%; and hedge funds, 2.9%. Fixed income returns were flat for the year.
Caisse's asset allocation as of Dec. 31 was 36.8% public equity, 34.6% fixed income, 15.9% inflation-sensitive investments; 10.1% private equity; 1.8% hedge funds; and the remainder in other investments.
Returns for other investments were not broken out in financial statements but are included in the Caisse's overall returns.
In a separate news release, Michael Sabia, Caisse president and CEO, said Caisse has had net annualized returns of 10% since 2009 and “over that period, we also outperformed our benchmark portfolio by 1.1%, or C$6 billion of value added.”
