Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

gained 2.1 per cent in the first half of the year thanks to

gold

, which more than offset the muted returns of private assets.

Net assets increased to $269.6 billion, up $3.3 billion from year-end, according to a statement Monday. The Toronto-based pension plan earned 7.1 per cent in the past 12 months.

The fund’s gains were mostly driven by public assets, particularly gold. Bullion was also one of Ontario Teachers’ best-performing assets in 2024. The pension’s private assets were flat to negative, reflecting the challenging environment for those classes, according to chief executive Jo Taylor.

“We do have a very large allocation to active privates,” Taylor said, adding that political and tariff uncertainty have also put pressure on the asset class.

Investors in private markets are contending with another year of subdued deal activity, which was triggered by

rising interest rates

. U.S. President

Donald Trump

’s erratic

trade policies

also delayed a much-needed recovery in mergers and acquisitions.

Still, Ontario Teachers’ has agreed to sell some assets this year, including its stakes in airports in Copenhagen and Brussels, as well as three airports in the U.K. The pension plan also agreed to sell its majority stake in India’s Sahyadri Hospitals Group.

The pension got good prices prices for the airports and plans to reallocate the proceeds to the infrastructure group and other parts of the portfolio, Taylor said.

Meanwhile, deals are starting to slowly pick up, Gillian Brown, chief investment officer for public and private investments, said in an interview. “We’ve just been more busy on opportunities that have come to us,” she said.

Prioritize Canada

On future investments, Ontario Teachers’ plans to prioritize Canadian investments and build on the initiatives coming out of the federal and provincial government, Taylor said.

Among the opportunities in the country are data centers, precious minerals, power and natural resources.

Pressure has been mounting on Canadian pension plans to invest more domestically to boost the economy, especially amid a “Buy Canada” movement fueled by Trump’s trade war.

Around 70 per cent of the fund’s holdings are in Canada and the U.S. The money manager wants to keep a high allocation to Canada, Taylor said, and the U.S. “has always been a pretty attractive destination.”

Ontario Teachers’ exposure to private equity was 21 per cent as of June 30, down by two percentage points from Dec. 31. Its public stocks holdings also fell by two points, to 12 per cent.

  • Canadian pensions target Europe as Trump shakes up world order
  • Ontario Teachers’ set to shut Hong Kong office in China retreat

The pension hired Terry Hickey as chief technology officer, who started in May. He spent the majority of his career at IBM Corp. but was most recently chief revenue officer with Zafin, a banking software company.

Bloomberg.com