Quebec pension fund La Caisse says the return on its fund for the first half of the year was 5.1%, below its benchmark index’s 7.5%.
The company says its net assets totalled $552 billion as of June 30.
Charles Emond, chief executive officer of La Caisse, says the first half of the year was dominated by two major trends: AI enthusiasm and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
He says La Caisse’s equity portfolio outperformed, as a small group of AI-related stocks benefiting from an unprecedented investment cycle in data centres drove the market rally.
La Caisse’s equity portfolio recorded a return of 14.6% over the six months ended June 30, which was above the benchmark index’s 13.6% return.
Meanwhile, its private equity portfolio fell by 4.3% as AI concerns weighed on certain industries, such as insurance and financial services, during the first six months of the year.