CPPIB to open Sydney office for infra push

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) plans to open its first Australia office, citing the opportunities in private infrastructure ownership.

The pension, which bought a portfolio of private equity fund stakes worth around $1 billion from Australia’s Future Fund at the beginning of the year, wants to open the office by the end of the fiscal year 2017.

“Australia’s transparent, solid policy frameworks make it an attractive investment market for foreign investment capital and a long-term investor like CPPIB,” a spokeswoman for the pension said in an email to Secondaries Investor. Australia’s promotion of private infrastructure ownership is highly attractive to the pension giant as its portfolio seeks long-duration assets, she added.

CPPIB has C$7.9 billion ($6.1 billion; €5.5 billion) invested in Australia, according to a first quarter financial statement released on Thursday.

Sydney will be CPPIB’s eighth global office and its third in Asia-Pacific after Hong Kong and Mumbai.

The Canadian pension was both an active buyer and seller on the secondaries market last year, offloading stakes in three Bridgepoint funds to Lexington Partners and Hamilton Lane in July, as well as increasing its exposure to Apax Partners’ seventh fund in January, as Secondaries Investor reported.

The pension’s net assets increased by C$8.4 billion to C$287.3 billion as of 30 June, according to the financial statement. Its portfolio delivered a gross investment return of 1.53 percent for the first quarter of fiscal 2017.