Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, Toronto, returned a net 3.1% for the first half of 2023 and a net 7.8% for the year ended June 30.
Net assets totaled C$127.4 billion ($96.1 billion) as of June 30, up from C$119.5 billion a year earlier, said a news release Wednesday.
OMERS had returned a net -0.4% in the first half of 2022.
Benchmark figures were not provided.
OMERS' fiscal year ends on Dec. 31.
By asset class, the top performer in the first half of 2023 was public equities, which returned a net 5.9%, followed by credit (3%), infrastructure (2.8%), private equity (1.9%), and bonds (1.1%). The poorest performer was real estate, returning -0.2%.
Public equities delivered strong returns, OMERS said in the news release, partly due to its core holdings in high-quality, large-cap stocks in the technology, communication, financials, and consumer discretionary sectors. Meanwhile, rising interest rates continued to support returns from bond and credit investments.
OMERS' private equity assets earned a positive return as "operational improvements, and tuck-under acquisitions increased portfolio company earnings."
The real estate portfolio witnessed valuation declines as "a result of pressure from higher interest rates and lower market demand for space in the office sector," OMERS added in the release. The pension fund noted that these declines offset the "stable income collected by our properties, profits from completed development projects and valuation gains in high-quality retail assets, residential properties and hotels which benefited from favorable leasing activities."
As of June 30, OMERS' asset allocation was 24% public equities, 21% infrastructure; 18% each credit and private equity; 17% real estate; 7% bonds, and -5% cash and funding.
By geography, the U.S. accounted for 47% of assets, followed by Canada (24%), Asia-Pacific (11%), Europe excluding U.K. (9%), U.K. (7%) and the rest of the world (2%).
