CPP Investment Board return rate falls to 3.3 per cent in 3-months ended Dec. 31

TORONTO – The fund that invests money on behalf of the Canada Pension Plan had a 3.3 per cent investment return in the three months ended Dec. 31, according to the CPP Investment Board.

The CPP Fund had $238.8 billion of assets at the end of the quarter, up $4.4 billion from Sept. 30. In the previous quarter, the fund’s assets rose by $7.6 billion from $226.8 billion as of June 30.

About half of the portfolio (49.5 per cent) was invested in equities, 34 per cent in fixed-income securities and 16.5 per cent in real assets, such as property and infrastructure, at the end of the pension manager’s fiscal third quarter.

The fund’s third-quarter gross rate of return compared with 3.4 per cent in CPPIB’s fiscal second quarter and 1.6 per cent in its first quarter ended June 30, 2014.

For the first nine months of CPP Investment Board’s current financial year, the fund’s assets increased by $19.7 billion from $219.1 billion at March 31, 2014, resulting in a 8.4 per cent investment return over that period compared with a 5.1 per cent investment return over the six-month period ended Sept. 30.

The Canada Pension Plan is funded by employees and employers. Contributions are currently higher than required to pay CPP retirement benefits and CPPIB invests the surplus.