MONTREAL –
Canada’s second-biggest pension fund, Caisse de depot, said on Thursday it had sold positions in Russia and would avoid exposure as the country faces additional sanctions due to its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, which had C$420 billion in assets at the end of 2021, said in a statement it had disposed of certain investments that were acquired before sanctions were passed.
“There’s no interest in investing directly and being exposed to the strategies when it comes to Russia, that’s the main principle,” Charles Emond, its chief executive, told reporters.
Emond said it was difficult to eliminate exposure given the global nature of indexes and investments.
“We are very active to correct the situation, to replicate our indices internally and to leave Russia,” he said.
Ukrainian forces battled Russian invaders on Thursday after Moscow mounted a mass attack by land, sea and air in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two.
Caisse said earlier it had generated a weighted-average return of 13.5 per cent on its depositors’ funds in 2021, compared with 10.7 per cent for its benchmark, driven by an overall strong performance across the portfolio.
(Reporting by Allison Lampert; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alexander Smith)
