(February 13, 2014) — The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has hired a Cressida Hogg, a managing partner at UK private equity firm 3i, to lead its infrastructure business.
Hogg’s appointment is in line with CPPIB’s Chief Executive Mark Wiseman’s plan to expand its infrastructure and private equity investments in 2014.
Most recently, the $193 billion fund acquired a 10.4% stake in a Peruvian infrastructure asset. Last year, it invested in South Korea’s Samsung Tower. According to the fund’s quarterly financial statement, it had allocated 5.7% of its assets—$11 billion—to infrastructure by September 2013.
Wiseman has also said CPPIB will open an office in São Paulo in April to look into real estate and infrastructure investments in the region.
“As the sovereign wealth funds, who are by and large larger than we are, look for assets around the world, we are seeing a greater degree of competition, and that is one of the reasons we have to build long-term capability, including in global markets like Asia and Latin America—to find the best opportunities,” Wiseman said in an interview.
Infrastructure has become wildly popular among institutional investors, according to data monitor Preqin—funds closed in 2013 had accumulated to $17 billion by September last year, a 55% increase from $11 billion in the same period in 2012.
Appetite is expected to continue to soar this year, inviting investors to “[potentially] earn favorable risk adjusted returns,” Preqin said.
Hogg founded 3i’s infrastructure business in 2005 and had been involved in every infrastructure transaction made by the team as managing partner and CIO.
She is said to leave the firm at the end of March and join CPPIB’s London office.
Related content: CPPIB’s Wiseman on Mistakes, Hockey, and the Birth of the Canadian Model, Investors Ordering Second Helpings of Infrastructure