Ontario Teachers chalks up 10.9% return for 2013

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Toronto, returned 10.9% on its investments in 2013, helping boost its total assets to C$140.8 billion (US$127.5 billion), according to the pension fund's annual report released Tuesday.

The return exceeded the fund's custom benchmark return of 9.3% and brought in C$13.7 billion in investment earnings for the year. Since the plan began in 1990, the rate of return is an annualized 10.2%, Neil Petroff, executive vice president and chief investment officer, said in a media briefing.

The plan was 103% funded as of Jan. 1, with an estimated funding surplus of C$5.1 billion.

OTPP's public and private equity investments returned a combined 27.6% for 2013, vs. 26.3% for the benchmark. Teachers' Private Capital, the pension fund's private equity unit, returned 26.9% vs. its benchmark return of 33.4%.

Fixed income returned -7.9% for the year, compared with the benchmark's -8.1%.

Real estate, managed by subsidiary Cadillac Fairview, returned 13.2% compared to its benchmark of 12.1%; infrastructure returned 16.8%, vs. the benchmark's 10.9%; and natural resources, with 4.2%, matched its benchmark.