The OMERS pension fund for nearly half a million public sector workers in Ontario says it achieved a 10.3% net investment return in 2016 — the highest in six years.

The Toronto-based fund manager says its net assets rose by $8.1 billion to $85.2 billion at the end of 2016.

It was the best year for OMERS since 2010, when its net rate of return was 11.4%.

OMERS — one of Canada’s biggest pension fund managers — manages investments on behalf of 470,000 members from city governments, school boards, emergency services and local agencies across Ontario.

In 2016, about $3.6 billion in benefit payments were paid to nearly 150,000 retired members of the plan.

Last year’s net investment return was up substantially from the 6.7% recorded in 2015 — mostly because of a higher weighting in public investments and a higher return on that category of asset.

About 55% of its assets at the end of 2016 were public investments, which had a net return of 9.5%. In 2015, OMERS had a net return of 0.7% from public investments, which made up 52% of the total portfolio.

The other 45% of OMERS assets in 2016 were various types of private investments, such as shares in private companies, infrastructure and real estate, which had 12% return in 2016. The category’s return in 2015 was 14.5%.