The company still falls short of target, report says
The British Columbia Investment Management Corp. (BCI) announced it has earned an annual combined pension plan return of 7.5 per cent for its latest year but still fell short of its target of 11.5 per cent, according to the Bloomberg BNN report. However, according to the Bloomberg report, the company’s benchmark of 11.5 per cent was “boosted by the strength of the largest tech stocks.”
Nonetheless, BCI’s chief executive officer and chief investment officer Gordon J. Fyfe said that BCI has “delivered solid absolute results” despite the challenged market this year.
“This was not a coincidence. Rather, it speaks to our team’s diligent risk approach and prudent liquidity management, which provided us with resilience and capability to capture market dislocations and deploy capital. Our investment teams continue to build a diversified portfolio, emphasizing direct and unique deals around the globe,” he said in a statement.
The company said the combined pension plan return represents the performance of BCI’s six largest pension clients by assets under management (AUM). Currently, as of the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2024, the company’s AUM has reached $250.4 billion compared to last year.
BCI also said that public equities and private debt were top contributors to this absolute performance.
“All asset classes generated positive returns apart from real estate equity, where sustained market headwinds affected valuations. Liquidity management was a key focus, including $1.25bn in capital raised from BCI’s inaugural bond issuance, with an additional $1bn raised in the subsequent reopening of the same series,” it stated.
“Asset classes focused on rebalancing across strategies to pursue opportunities in a muted deal environment. More than 10 direct deals were executed, further diversifying BCI’s portfolio with entry into new sectors and geographies complementing our strong Canadian footprint. Opportunities in infrastructure debt increased, and three transactions were closed, increasing European exposure. Private debt deployments were substantial at US$2bn, focusing on differentiated opportunities in the middle and lower middle markets and expanding the program to Asia. Within the infrastructure & renewable resources and private equity programs, an increasing focus on asset management boosted portfolio valuations and created $17.6bn in value over five years and returned $31.1bn in cash distributions to clients,” the company added.
