The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), one of the world’s largest pension funds, has made at least $889 million in total commitments to Asia, including China and India, in the third quarter of this year.
In its latest report, the pension fund said it committed $400 million to CVC Capital Partners Asia VI in the July-September quarter, which the company marked as the second quarter of fiscal 2023.
CVC Capital Partners is a global alternative asset manager focused on private equity, secondaries, and credit. It closed its fifth Asia Pacific fund at a hard cap of $4.5 billion in 2020, exceeding an original target of $4 billion.
It recently invested in Vietnam-based Phuong Chau Trade and Investment JSC, the operator of the Phuong Chau-branded maternal and infant care hospitals in southern Vietnam. It also bought a minority stake in Indonesian cheese maker PT Mulia Boga Raya Tbk for about $20 million.
Aside from its commitment to CVC’s sixth APAC fund, CPP Investments also committed 18.5 billion rupees (about $230 million) to Kotak Infrastructure Investment Fund (KIIF).
KIIF is being raised by Kotak Investment Advisors, the alternative investment arm of Kotak Mahindra Group. It will provide senior and secured financing to operating infrastructure projects in India, CPP Investments said.
The Canadian pension fund also invested $75 million in a mezzanine loan backed by a Grade A office and retail property in Shanghai and another $184 million in the Hong Kong IPO of China Tourism Group Duty Free, a leading duty-free operator in China.
Aside from its investment commitments, CPP Investment co-invested $47 million alongside True North, one of the oldest private equity firms in India, in Accion Labs, one of the fastest-growing US-based global product engineering and digital IT services company.
The commitments were made as the pension fund returned 0.2% in the July-September quarter, compared to a negative 4.2% return in the April-June quarter of this year. On a five-year and 10-year basis, CPP Investments said it achieved net returns of 8.5% and 10.1%, respectively.
However, for the six-month fiscal year-to-date period, the fund decreased by $10 billion, consisting of a net decline in value of $22 billion after all CPP Investments costs, plus $12 billion in net CPP contributions.
CPP Investments said its quarterly results were adversely affected by broad declines in global public and private equity markets and in fixed-income markets.
Meanwhile, its net assets also rose to $529 billion, compared to $523 billion at the end of the previous quarter The $6-billion increase in net assets for the quarter consisted of $1 billion in net income and $5 billion in net transfers from the Canada Pension Plan.
“Our portfolio remains resilient despite inflationary pressures, increases in central bank rates and the continued impact of the war in Ukraine, which resulted in the continued decline in global financial markets during the quarter,” said president and CEO John Graham.