Big Funds You’ve Never Heard Of – Part IX

As part of my ongoing series on 'big funds you've never heard of,' I'd like to draw your attention to yet another big fund that I’m almost certain you’ve never heard of. Ready? Here we go:

- This fund was launched in 1995.

- It has $13.7 billion in assets under management. (So, as advertised, it’s big.)

- It serves 84,000 members and retirees

Any ideas? No? onward:

- The fund has plans to reduce public equities to 25% of its portfolio.

- The fund will ramp up alternative assets to 50% (!) of the total AUM! (Wow.)

- The fund is located in... Canada. (Surprise!)

Got it? Still stumped?

- The fund is, if you can believe it, located in the Mecca of public pension funds: Toronto. (Yup, it's been hiding in plain sight, y'all!)

- Over the fund’s 17 years of operation, its investment portfolio has realized an average gross annual return of 8.5%.

Got it? Well if you don’t know it by now... you never will.

It's time for the reveal: The big fund I’m thinking you’ve never heard of is...

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union Pension Trust (OPTrust). (Not to be confused with the much bigger Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, OTPP).

OPTrust is one of the smaller big Canadian funds (if that makes sense), but it's doing quite a bit of creative stuff. In fact, I chose this "BFYNHO" because it’s been popping up on my radar at an increasing rate; in particular in some of the alternative investment areas.Anyway, for more details on what OPTrust is up to, click here.

Until next time...