CPP board invests in Onex fund, specialty funds

Dec 18, 2003

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is entrusting $150 million (U.S.) to a fund managed by Onex Corp., and also announced yesterday it has made substantial commitments to two other asset managers.

The CPP board, which administers the non-bond investments of the federal pension fund, said it will invest $150 million in the new Onex Partners LP fund.

Onex, a Toronto-based car-parts-to-cinemas conglomerate controlled by financier Gerald Schwartz, said Nov. 26 that investors had committed $1 billion to the fund, which "will provide committed capital for future Onex-sponsored acquisitions."

The CPP Investment Board also said it is placing $100 million (Canadian) with Macquarie Essential Assets Partnership, managed by a unit of the Australian-based Macquarie Group. It will invest in pipelines, electricity lines and other infrastructure, primarily in Canada. The CPP board said this is its first commitment to an infrastructure fund.

Another $100 million (U.S.) of federal pension money will go to TPG Partners IV, a Texas Pacific Group fund focusing on buyouts in the U.S. and western Europe.

"Private market investments remain an important part of our long-term investment strategy and these new commitments continue our program of diversifying the total CPP portfolio," stated John MacNaughton, president of the CPP Investment Board.

From Canadian Press