Consolidated assets of the Canada Pension Plan earned approximately $1.6 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2002 for a return of 3.1%, reversing a year to date investment loss at the end of the previous quarter.

Investment income for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2002 was approximately $114 million, resulting in a 0.8% rate of return. Consolidated CPP assets have increased by $1.2 billion to $54.8 billion since the beginning of the current fiscal year.

At Dec. 31, 2002, the assets of the Canada Pension Plan consisted of $36.4 billion in fixed-income securities administered by the Department of Finance in Ottawa, and $18.4 billion in equities and real estate managed by the CPP Investment Board in Toronto.

The fixed-income portfolio consisted of $31.8 billion in federal and provincial government bonds and $4.6 billion in an interest-earning cash reserve. For the third quarter, fixed income assets earned almost $600 million for a positive estimated return of approximately 2%. These assets generated investment income of $3.1 billion during the nine-month period for an estimated 8.8% return.

The CPP Investment Board portfolio represents 34% of consolidated CPP assets, consisting of 93% public equities, 6% private equities and 1% real estate. In the third quarter, equities gained $1 billion for a positive 5.8% return. This portfolio has lost $3 billion during the first nine months for a negative 15.9% return.

Year to date, the CPP Investment Board has underperformed its benchmark by 0.7%. Since its inception, it has outperformed the benchmark by an annualized 2.9%.