{"id":442186,"date":"2026-02-24T01:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T01:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/442186\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T01:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T01:56:10","slug":"omers-pension-fund-reports-6-gain-as-weak-u-s-dollar-dents-investment-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/442186\/","title":{"rendered":"OMERS pension fund reports 6% gain as weak U.S. dollar dents investment returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) gained 6 per cent on its investments in 2025, lagging its benchmark but earning positive returns across most its portfolio in what chief executive Blake Hutcheson called \u201cone of the most difficult years in my career to invest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pension fund manager\u2019s annual performance was hampered by a weakening U.S. dollar, which dragged returns down by 1.3 percentage points, and poor performance from private equity investments, which lost 2.5 per cent. <\/p>\n

All other asset classes had positive returns for the year, led by a stock portfolio that gained 12.3 per cent, as public markets surged largely on optimism about technology and artificial intelligence. <\/p>\n

That market optimism was overshadowed by political turmoil and wars around the world, as well as the disorienting effect that shifting tariff policy has had on investors. The uncertainty stemming from U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s protectionist push affected currencies, interest rates and asset prices, \u201cand frankly, it impacted our day-to-day decision making,\u201d Mr. Hutcheson said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I want to know is that I\u2019ve got an environment where someone doesn\u2019t wake up and break your jaw,\u201d he added. \u201cWhy I think it\u2019s difficult now is it\u2019s just so unpredictable, the goalposts keep getting moved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinion: Why Canadian investors should not fear Trump\u2019s tariffs<\/a><\/p>\n

OMERS fell short of its internal benchmark for returns, which was 7.5 per cent, though currency losses accounted for much of that gap and aren\u2019t accounted for in the target. OMERS was able to offset a further 70 basis points of potential currency losses by hedging against fluctuations in the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven all that … it\u2019s an acceptable outcome,\u201d Mr. Hutcheson said. <\/p>\n

OMERS invests on behalf of nearly 665,000 Ontario public service workers at school boards, transit systems, electrical utilities and emergency services, among other employers. Its assets increased to $145.2-billion at the end of 2025, up from $138.2-billion a year earlier.<\/p>\n

The plan has earned an average annual return of 7.7 per cent over the past five years, and 7.1 per cent over 10 years.<\/p>\n

Even now, the United States is \u201cnot a market you would ignore,\u201d accounting for 26 per cent of global economic output, and it will remain a big part of OMERS\u2019s strategy, Mr. Hutcheson said. \u201cHaving said that, it\u2019s a cautionary time.\u201d<\/p>\n

OMERS is looking at whether it can \u201cpivot to Canada\u201d for some of its deals at a pivotal moment for the country\u2019s economy \u2013 as long as any potential transactions meet the bar for risk and return that guides the fund\u2019s mandate. <\/p>\n

OMERS review recommends rework of two-tiered governance structure<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to do more in Canada,\u201d where OMERS has a home-field advantage and a significant portfolio of real estate and other investments, he said. But infrastructure investment has been harder for the pension plans, with too few opportunities that they deem to be attractive. <\/p>\n

\u201cActual opportunities have to be put on the table,\u201d he said, and OMERS is \u201cencouraged that those are on the horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n

OMERS\u2019s global infrastructure portfolio gained 6 per cent last year. <\/p>\n

In private equity, buyers and sellers are starting to be more realistic about what companies are worth, chief financial officer Jonathan Simmons said. But for deals to pick up, company profits need to start rising in a meaningful way, and interest rates need to stay low. <\/p>\n

For private equity investors, \u201cit was a very difficult year, let\u2019s not kid ourselves on that front,\u201d Mr. Hutcheson said, and a full recovery for the sector could take years. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t turn on a dime.\u201d<\/p>\n

OMERS had stronger performance from its private credit book, which earned 8.3 per cent in 2025. More recently, stock prices for large private credit lenders have wobbled as U.S.-based Blue Owl Capital Inc. halted redemptions for one of its funds and sold a US$1.4-billion portfolio of loans to several pension funds, with OMERS reportedly one of them.<\/p>\n

The fund declined to comment on Blue Owl\u2019s sale, but said it has stuck to a strategy \u201cto hold the pen on credit underwriting and not to give it away, and that is serving us well,\u201d Mr. Simmons said.<\/p>\n

OMERS improved from being 98-per-cent funded in 2024, based on projected payouts to pensioners, to 99 per cent at the end of last year. The plan expects to be fully funded soon, and to manage $200-billion of assets by 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) gained 6 per cent on its investments in 2025, lagging its benchmark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1399,1387,1400,390,1377,1401,84,626,1376,1392,1393,1389,1378,1375,1294,1398,1397,1391,4176,1385,1412,1379,1380,80,1388,655,1382,1402,1383,1407,1408,1410,1405,1409,1403,1406,4174,4175,1381,1395,1396,229,1394,1404,1386,86,387,1390,56,54,55,1384,231,1411],"class_list":["post-442186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-finance","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}