OPB announces launch of IMCO

We wanted to follow up our press release announcing the official launch of IMCO with a more personal note to our clients and stakeholders about IMCO's launch and what it means to you.

After many years of work, we're pleased to announce that IMCO has officially commenced its operations and is now managing the combined $60 billion of assets for both OPB and WSIB. Over the past few years we've talked about asset pooling and why we felt it was the right move for our clients and stakeholders – the bottom line is that we believe asset pooling will help us improve our returns over the long-term and deliver better value for our clients.

OPB's Investments and Investment Finance staff have moved over to IMCO, including Jill Pepall who is IMCO's first Chief Investment Officer and Michel Paradis who is IMCO's first Chief Financial Officer.

While IMCO will be managing our assets, OPB continues to be responsible for managing the health of the Plan and setting our Strategic Asset Allocation. Additionally, OPB will continue to own our assets and have full responsibility for our liabilities and only our liabilities. To do this, OPB retained a key member of our Investments Team, Ken Lusk, to take on the newly created Head of Investments position. Ken's extensive investment expertise and his role as OPB's lead representative in the asset pooling arrangement negotiations position him well to oversee IMCO and ensure IMCO is managing our assets in accordance with our investment policies.

OPB continues to be responsible for the Plan and its health and we remain committed to keeping our clients informed. We will continue to keep you updated on the Plan and our investments.

For more information on IMCO and asset pooling, check out our 2016 Annual Report, visit https://reports.opb.ca/2016/imco.php.

We’ve also included a copy of our press release below.

OPB announces launch of IMCO

TORONTO, July 24, 2017 – Ontario Pension Board (OPB) is pleased to announce that the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO) has officially commenced operations and is now managing the combined $60 billion of assets for both OPB and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

IMCO's launch is the result of more than 6 years of work between OPB and WSIB to create an asset pooling arrangement that provides broader public sector plans with scale and direct access to private market investments. While OPB and WSIB are the first two plans to pool their assets under IMCO's management, the intent is to have other broader public sector entities participate in the future.

"We believe asset pooling will allow us to earn higher returns than we could on our own and is in the best interest of our plan beneficiaries and stakeholders. Pooling our assets under IMCO's management will provide us with the scale we need to achieve cost efficiencies and to invest directly in a diverse range of high-quality investments," said President and CEO Mark Fuller.

OPB continues to own its assets and liabilities and set the Plan's Strategic Asset Allocation mix and has maintained a Head of Investments, Ken Lusk to oversee IMCO's management of the Plan's assets. For more information on IMCO and asset pooling, see OPB's 2016 Annual Report at https://reports.opb.ca/2016/imco.php.

About Ontario Pension Board

Ontario Pension Board (OPB) administers Ontario's Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP), a defined benefit pension plan serving approximately 41,000 active members and their employers, as well as more than 43,000 retired and former members. The PSPP is one of Canada's largest and oldest pension plans, successfully delivering the pension promise since the early 1920s. To learn more about OPB, visit www.opb.ca.

For more information:

Ileana Brito
Manager, Stakeholder Relations
Ontario Pension Board
ileana.brito@opb.ca