Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s main fund achieved a 5.6% net return for the quarter ended June 30.
The Toronto-based fund manager says its base CPP account had $431.1 billion of net assets at the end of its first quarter, up $22.7 billion since March 31 when its 2019-20 financial year ended.
A newer fund that’s been established to increase retirement payouts in the long term, ended June 30 with $3.3 billion of net assets, was up $1 billion from March 30.
CPP Investments is an independent fund manager for the Canada Pension Plan, which covers employees in most parts of Canada except for Quebec, which has its own provincial plan.
Its previous quarter took a hit from the stock market crash in late March that was due to the COVID-19, but since then most major public markets have bounced back.
CPP Investments says its fund had gains in a broad range of asset classes during the April-June period, offset in part by a stronger Canadian dollar and below-average CPP contributions.
The base CPP account received $1.1 billion in net contributions and the additional account received $800,000, it said.
“While global financial markets experienced a strong rebound from March, significant uncertainty in health, social and economic conditions persists,” chief executive Mark Machin said in a statement.
“Amid this environment, CPP Investments delivered solid performance, while our investment teams were active in creating long-term value across our diversified programs.”
Adjusting for inflation, the base and additional CPP accounts had a net real annualized five-year return of 7.2% and a 10-year return of 8.9%.
Based on projections by Canada’s chief actuary, CPP’s base fund requires an real rate of return of 3.95% over 75 years.