British Columbia Investment Management Corp., Victoria, returned 14.2% on its investments net of costs for the year ended March 31, beating the 12.6% custom benchmark, it announced in a statement Thursday.
The performance contributed to raising BCIMC’s assets to C$123.6 billion ($97.5 billion), up $13.2 billion from the previous year.
Overweighting to global public equity markets, including emerging markets, a tactical move made in 2014, drove BCIMC’s performance, the statement said.
For the 12 months, BCIMC’s returns outpaced all their benchmarks across its asset classes, except for one style of fixed income, according to its annual report, also released Thursday. Global equities returned 23%, outpacing the 22.1% benchmark return; Canadian equities, 7.5%, topping the 6.8% benchmark; emerging market equities, 21.4%, besting the 15.2% benchmark return; nominal bonds, 10.7%, outrunning the 10.3% benchmark; real return bonds 14%, underperforming the 14.5% benchmark; short-term fixed income 1.9%, outplaying its 0.9% benchmark return; mortgages, 6.2%, bettering the 4.5% benchmark; private equity 18.1%, surpassing its 15.5% benchmark; Canadian real estate, 7.6%, upending its 5.2% benchmark; global real estate, 9.8%, exceeding its 7% benchmark; all-weather strategy, 8.4%, outdoing its 6.5% benchmark; infrastructure, 9.7%, outperforming its 8% benchmark; and renewable resources, 8%, surpassing the 7% benchmark.
As of March 31, BCIMC’s asset allocation was: public equities 49.5%, fixed income 21.5%, real estate 14.6%, private equity 4.8%, infrastructure 4.7%, mortgages 2.1%, all-weather strategy, and 1.5%, renewable resources 1.3%.
The public equities allocation was U.S. market, 31%; Canada, 25%; emerging markets, 18.5%; Europe, 15.5%; and Asia, 10%.
On an annualized basis for periods ended March 31, BCIMC returned, net of costs, 11.1% for four years vs. the 9.1% benchmark return; 10 years, 8.1%, compared to its 7.3% benchmark; 15 years, 6.7%, compared to its 5.9% benchmark return; and 20 years, 8.5%, compared to its 8.1% benchmark.
“Costs refer to internal and external fund management fees. They also include salaries and benefits paid to all staff, as well as administrative and operational costs,” Jennifer Kwan, senior media relations specialist, said in an e-mail.
Pension funds represent 83.8% of BCIMC’s total assets
