CPP Investment Board posts 3.6 per cent rate of return for its third quarter

TORONTO -- The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board says it earned a return of 3.6 per cent during its most recent quarter, after expenses.

Net assets for the Toronto-based fund manager grew to $420.4 billion as of Dec. 31, up from $409.5 billion at the end of the previous quarter.

The $10.9 billion quarter-to-quarter increase included $14.5 billion in net income from investments, after all CPPIB costs, offset by $3.6 billion of cash outflows to the Canada Pension Plan.

CPPIB's base account had $419.0 billion in net assets as of Dec. 31, up $10.7 billion from the previous quarter, and a new account for extended CPP benefits had $1.4 billion in assets, up from $1.2 billion at the end of September.

Its five-year annualized net real return, which adjusts for inflation, was 8.4 per cent and its 10-year real rate of return was 8.5 per cent during what was the third quarter of its 2019-20 financial year.

CPPIB is an independent fund manager for the national pension system, which invests excess contributions from employers and employees in most parts of Canada except for Quebec, which has its own provincial plan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2020.