Strong bond prices helped pension plan OMERS earn a 10 per cent return on investments and increase its net assets by $7 billion to $72 billion in 2014.

The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System said the return exceeded the net return of six per cent in the previous year.

OMERS reported that its public investments had a return of 10.7 per cent, while private investments returned 9.5 per cent in 2014.

In 2014, the pension plan received $3.7 billion in contributions from members and paid out $3.1 billion in benefits.

The plan saw its membership increase by 1.7 per cent or approximately 18,800 new members in 2014. About 135,000 members received OMERS pensions last year, with about 8,000 receiving them for the first time.

OMERS manages contributions from a total of 450,000 members and invests the funds in public and private assets, commodities, infrastructure, private equity and real estate.