Ontario Teachers to open Hong Kong office in 2013

According to Bloomberg, OTPP sees Asia as a major area of growth. The IMF expects emerging Asian economies to expand 7.2% in 2013, while China is expected to grow at 8.3%, compared with the 3.6% global growth forecast.

OTPP was the subject of the LP interview in a recent issue of AVCJ. It manages retirement savings of 300,000 active and retired teachers in Canada's most-populous province, has invested in FountainVest Advisors, MBK Partners and Unitas Capital among other Asian GPs. Its investment return reached 11% last year, with funding shortfall narrowed to CAD9.6 billion ($9.7 billion), from CAD$17.2 billion a year ago.

The pension fund is also arguably the most aggressive direct investor in Asia among the North American pension funds. In the first half of 2012 alone, it teamed up with Hastings Fund Management to acquire a 50-year lease on Sydney Desalination Plant for $2.35 billion and then bought a 9.9% stake in Korea's Kyobo Life Insurance for $398 million.

CPPIB established its Hong Kong office in 2008 and last year appointed Mark Machin, former vice-chairman for Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific, to head up operations. The Church Pension Fund, which has invested in Asian GPs including IDG Capital, IL&FS Investment Managers and Matrix Partners China, has run its Asian investments from Hong Kong since 2009.

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• Topics
• LPs
• Greater China
• Hong Kong (China)
• OTPP