Tausi Insider

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board eked out a gain of 0.2 per cent in a fiscal second quarter that was tough for investors, adding $1-billion to the fund’s assets in spite of broad weakness in public and private equities as well as fixed income markets. CPPIB’s investment returns outperformed The S&P Global LargeMidCap index, a measure of stocks CPPIB uses as 85 per cent of its benchmark reference portfolio, which fell 1.46 per cent in the quarter in Canadian-dollar terms. But CPPIB narrowly trailed the performance of Canadian defined-benefit pension plans in the quarter, in which assets were up 0.5 per cent, according to Royal Bank of Canada’s RBC I&TS All Plan Universe. In the first nine months of the year, those pension plans have lost 13.7 per cent. Gains in U.S. dollar-denominated investments, which were boosted by foreign exchange rates, and positive returns from energy and infrastructure investments helped keep returns positive after CPPIB lost $23-billion in the...

Russia's invasion of Ukraine plunged Europe into its biggest land war since World War Two. As Putin pays up to keep his campaign grinding on, managing its fallout at home and abroad is likely to get ever harder. https://www.tausiinsider.com/russia-faces-economic-pain-and-isolation-in-2023/?feed_id=330460&_unique_id=644b7dee9f46e

One of Canada’s largest independent investment banks is potentially about to go private. The management team of Canaccord Genuity Inc. CF-T announced an all-cash takeover bid of $11.25 per share early Monday, valuing the financial services company at roughly $1.13-billion. New York-based HPS Investment Partners LLC, Canaccord’s largest individual shareholder, has agreed to provide up to $825-million in financing to support the deal. While the offer represents a nearly 42-per-cent premium to the most recent 20-day average price of Canaccord’s stock, it is also roughly 32 per cent below the company’s Nov 2021 value of $16.52 per share. “The public markets place a low value on the business, given its exposure to a cyclical capital markets environment,” the group behind the takeover bid said in a release. “That has been magnified by the tumultuous 2022 in the capital markets and which is expected to continue while the common shares remain publicly traded.” Collectively, the offeror group...

National Bank of Canada NA-T says the head of its wealth management business is retiring. The bank says Martin Gagnon, executive vice-president, wealth management, as well as co-chief executive of National Bank Financial, will step down on April 1. Until Gagnon’s successor is named, National Bank says Denis Girouard, executive vice-president and co-head, financial markets, will lead wealth management on an interim basis. Girouard has co-led the financial markets division since 2016. Etienne Dubuc, currently co-head of financial markets, will become sole head of the financial markets group. He joined the bank’s senior leadership team in November 2022. https://www.tausiinsider.com/national-bank-makes-senior-executive-changes-with-wealth-management-head-set-to-retire/?feed_id=322226&_unique_id=63d63ca7e3a27