Real estate, infrastructure losses sap Ontario Teachers' returns

financialpost.com:

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan gained 1.9 per cent last year, underperforming its benchmark by a wide margin, as strong results in credit and stocks were overshadowed by losses in hard assets.

The fund lowered its valuation on some infrastructure and property holdings due to higher interest rates and “asset-specific events that negatively impacted select investments,” which it didn’t specify in a statement Tuesday.

Ontario Teachers’ underexposure to stocks also weighed on its returns. That part of the portfolio rose 20 per cent, but the fund has just 10 per cent of its assets in public equities on a gross basis.

“While we advanced key strategic areas of focus in 2023, we did not generate investment results to desired levels,” chief executive Jo Taylor said in the statement, adding that the fund had prepared for “a more challenging economic environment than ultimately transpired.”

The real estate portfolio declined 5.9 per cent, compared with a two per cent gain for its benchmark. Infrastructure assets lost 2.8 per cent.

Overall, Ontario Teachers’ return trailed its benchmark by nearly seven percentage points.