Ontario pension returns 10.8%

TORONTO — Ontario’s public service pension plan ended 2017 with an annual investment return of 10.8 per cent, which helped it maintain its funded status at about 97 per cent.

The Ontario Pension Board, which administers the plan, said net investment income during the year amounted to $2.5 billion and net assets grew to $26.4 billion by the end of the year.

The return came as OPB continued a strategy of shifting assets from public to private markets last year. This included increasing its private equity portfolio by 53.5 per cent.