The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its by portfolio by about $14.4 billion during the fund operator’s latest fiscal quarter.

The portfolio’s total value increased to approximately $646.8 billion from roughly $632.3 billion at the end of the previous quarter as CPPIB made numerous $100-million-plus global investments, the report shows.

The $14.4-billion increase in net assets consisted of $6.3 billion in net income and $8.1 billion in net transfers from the Canada Pension Plan.

“Our diversified portfolio is performing as designed with gains across most asset classes,” said John Graham, CPPIB’s president and CEO, in a news release. “We continue to prudently manage the Fund to deliver value to CPP contributors and beneficiaries over the very long term.”

The gains were driven primarily by investments in public equity and across private asset classes, particularly in credit and U.S.-dollar denominated assets, which benefited from the strengthening U.S. dollar against the Canadian dollar, said CPPIB.

Credit investments included approximately €200 million in mezzanine financing to support Sosteneo’s acquisition of a 49% interest in Enel Libra Flexsys, which owns and operates a portfolio of 23 battery energy-storage system projects and three open-cycle gas turbine projects in Italy.

CPPIB also invested US$250 million in a loan facility to support the merger of two Indian pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organizations, Cohance Lifesciences and Suven Pharma, which are owned by Advent International.

Meanwhile, the pension fund operator entered into a definitive agreement to jointly acquire clean-energy firm Allete with U.S.-based Global Infrastructure Partners for US$6.2 billion. Duluth, Minn.,-based Allete is focused on addressing the clean-energy transition by expanding renewables, reducing carbon, enhancing electrical grid resiliency, and driving innovation.

Toronto-based CPPIB has also swung a number of deals since the end of the quarter.

Among the notable deals: The fund sold its stake in One Paramount 1, a grade A office development in Chennai, India for US$52 million in net proceeds. In 2021, CPPIB made an initial investment in a joint-venture with RMZ Corp., in India to hold and develop commercial real estate assets.

And, CPPIB sold its approximate 6% stake in Delhivery, India’s largest integrated third-party logistics service provider, for C$298 million in net proceeds. CPPIB made its initial investment in the company in 2019.

Photo: Allete