CPP Investment Board to invest $400M in Canadian private equity, venture firms

TORONTO - The CPP Investment Board is committing an additional $400 million to be invested in the Canadian private equity and venture capital market by Northleaf Capital Partners.
The mandate of the new investment will be to back Canadian small-to-mid-market funds seeking to raise $750 million or less for buy outs, venture capital or growth equity.
The new investment follows a $400-million commitment by the CPPIB in 2005 for Northleaf to invest in smaller Canadian private equity and venture capital firms.
Mark Wiseman, senior vice-president of private investments, said Northleaf gives the board access to smaller opportunities that would not otherwise be available to a fund the size of the CPPIB.
"There's just too many of them and what we need is someone to help us aggregate those type of small investment opportunities," Wiseman said.
While stimulating innovation in Canada is a by-product of these investments, Wiseman said the fund doesn't favour any investments.
"Our mandate is very simple: we invest capital in places we feel we can make the best risk weighted returns," Wiseman said.
"The fact that we can find places to invest closer to home, that's sort of a positive and the fact that there is sort of a knock off effect that it can create some stimulus in the Canadian economy is great, but it did not factor into our decision."
The CPP invests around the world in every asset class and manages a portion of the Canada Pension Plan's assets that aren't required for current pay outs to pensioners.