Canada's CPP Investments ramps up India focus as portfolio triples
The Canadian pension giant—which has NSE, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Flipkart in its fast-growing India portfolio—plans to keep expanding its exposure to the country.
Mumbai: Canada’s CPP Investments expects its India portfolio to grow further after tripling in size over the previous five years, top executives at the investment firm said on Wednesday during a media discussion.
CPP India’s assets under management have increased from C$10 billion in 2020 to about C$29.5 billion (about ₹1.8 trillion). That makes India the Canadian pension fund’s third-largest market in the Asia-Pacific, behind Japan (C$38.1 billion) and China (C$30.3 billion).
“One of the reasons India has grown at a much faster rate than the fund as a whole is because of the opportunity set, and I think we should expect to see a reasonable growth rate based on the pipeline we see in the market today," said John Graham, president and chief executive officer, CPP Investments.
“We expect to continue growing our portfolio. India is a fast-growing dynamic economy, and we expect to see lots of interesting opportunities," Graham said, without revealing exact figures on how much the firm plans to invest in the country.
He added that India is seeing healthy growth in public markets. “That provides a larger market capitalization, which over time is beneficial," Graham said. “As an investor, we need to also see the market capitalization grow and how the public markets are performing."
CPP India's key sectors
CPP entered India in 2009 with an investment in private equity fund Multiples, and subsequently opened an office in Mumbai in 2015.
Over the years, the Canadian pension fund has invested across the real estate, infrastructure, energy, credit, public equity, fixed income, private equity, and technology sectors in India.
CPP’s key investments in the country include the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Flipkart, Hexaware Technologies, real-estate developer RMZ Corp., and industrial and logistics real estate developer IndoSpace.
Hari Krishna, the investment firm’s India office head and managing director for CPP’s real estate and real assets division, emphasised the firm’s focus on sectors such as infrastructure, supply chain productivity, and decarbonisation.
The Canadian firm also places importance on sub-segments like consumer wallet (through its investment in Phoenix Mills and Flipkart) and consumer balance sheet (Kotak), he added.
CPP India’s recent investments and exits
CPP Investments is among the largest pension funds investing in India. Its other Canadian peers actively investing in the country include CDPQ and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Over the past year in India, CPP has invested in private equity fund Kedaara Capital and venture capital fund Accel’s latest funds. It has also invested in the combined entity of packaging companies Pravesha and Manjushree Technopack, Perficient Capital, and edtech startup Eruditus.
Some of its recent investment exits from Indian companies include the sale of a 6% stake in logistics firm Delhivery and a partial stake sale in NSE India for undisclosed sums.
Globally, CPP’s net assets have steadily increased over the years—to C$732 billion in June from C$632 billion in March last year. The investment firm has operations across Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, and New Zealand.
topics
