(Bloomberg) -- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan delivered a 4.2% return in the first half of the year, boosted by investments in stocks and commodities, particularly gold.
The fund’s gains equaled $10.8 billion (US$7.9 billion) in net investment income, bringing it to $255.8 billion of assets.
“All of the asset classes did make a good performance,” Chief Executive Officer Jo Taylor said in an interview Tuesday, noting that public equities, inflation-sensitive investments and commodities were particularly strong. The fund doesn’t disclose returns by category in its midyear results.
Ontario Teachers’ exposure to credit dropped to 14% of the portfolio on a gross basis as of June 30, down from 16% at the end of 2023. But that was due to changes in the passive parts of the portfolio, he said — the fund is still increasing its focus on actively managed credit, particularly private loans.
“The direction of travel for us on credit in the last 18 months has been to build capability within our team but also build that sort of actively managed exposure,” Taylor said.
The Toronto-based firm manages about 80% of its portfolio internally.
Ontario Teachers’ made several new appointments, including naming Mabel Wong chief financial officer, announced Tuesday. Wong had been the acting CFO since the departure of Tim Deacon in April. Prior to joining the pension fund in 2023, she spent about 15 years at Brookfield Asset Management.
The fund also tapped Bernard Grzinic as executive managing director for capital markets, where he’ll be in charge of active risk-taking in credit. Chief Operating Officer Tracy Abel plans to retire at the end of the year.
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