By Lauren Bailey
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (La Caisse) generated a 4.6% mid-year return for 2025, outperforming its six-month portfolio benchmark (4.3%).
At a press conference earlier today, the Quebec pension fund presented an update of its results as at June 30, 2025, noting the portfolio’s performance also out drove its benchmarks over five- (7.7% vs 6.6%) and 10-year (7.0% vs 6.4%) annualized periods. As at June 30, 2025, Caisse’s net assets were $496B, an increase of $23B over six months.
“The strategic adjustments that we have made over the past few years have allowed us to considerably improve the relative performance over the past five years,” said Charles Emond, Caisse’s president and chief executive officer, during the press conference.
Equities returned 4.9%, outperforming its return benchmark (4.1%) for the period. The beginning of 2025 saw the pension fund take a bit of a step back from U.S. equities, prioritizing emerging and European markets when compared to the prior year. While global stock markets experienced volatility due to uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariff policy in the earlier part of the year, equity markets rebounded after April’s market correction.
Overall, Caisse’s Equity Markets assets recorded a 6.0% return — outperforming the benchmark return (5.5%) — led by Canadian (7.0%) and emerging market returns (9%). Over five years, the annualized return was 13.3%, compared with 12.9% for the index.
Though Emond noted that the new U.S. tariffs will slow the U.S. economy, he cautioned that it will be some time before their full impact is felt, which he said invites prudency.
Private equity returned 3.4%, above the benchmark index (2.0%), with tariff uncertainty and the higher-rate environment contributing to fewer transactions. Over five years, the portfolio generated 16.7%, above its 15.4% benchmark index. Caisse attributed the performance to investments in growth sectors, such as technology, finance, or industry.
The fixed income asset class also showed modest gains, returning 3.9% over its 3.0% portfolio benchmark. The pension fund noted the performance was due in part to a strong current yield of 2.8% and positive execution in government debt, corporate credit and capital solutions activities. Over five years, the asset class saw an annualized return of 0.2% (largely due to 2022’s large market correction), above the benchmark index’s -0.8%.
Real assets was the only asset class to underperform its benchmark index (2.8% vs 5.4%). Transportation assets helped buoy the infrastructure portfolio’s return (4.5%); however, it still fell below the benchmark index (8.1%). Over five years, the portfolio returned 11.2% versus a benchmark index at 9%. Caisse noted exposure to sectors such as renewable energy, transportation, port assets, and telecommunications infrastructure were also contributors to the positive performance, as well as the sale of some assets.
Real estate continued to experience challenges, with post-COVID remote working practices still taking a toll on the sector. The portfolio returned 0.1% against a benchmark index at 1.2%; over five years, its annual return of 0.3% was just shy of the index (0.4%). Caisse attributed the performance in part to concentration within some U.S. markets, which lags Europe in the return to office. While lower transaction volume persists, the pension fund is seeing stabilization in values in the commercial, office, residential, and logistics sectors.
