The Canadians Are Coming: Fifth Pension Opens NYC Office
One of Canada’s largest pension funds is opening an office in New York City to focus on principal debt and credit investments.
The C$112 billion ($84 billion) Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) has hired industry veteran David Scudellari to lead the new US affiliate as senior head of principal debt and credit investments.
“I am looking forward to sharing my expertise and extensive network of contacts to grow this new private debt asset class,” Scudellari said in the announcement. Given the “scale of anticipated capital deployment” and PSP’s long-term horizon, “we will have a unique investor profile in the leveraged finance landscape.”
The institutional fund also hired Ziv Ehrenfeld to serve as senior director.
The New York office will initially handle principal debt and credit investments exclusively, according to a release. However, PSP Investments expects it to grow to accommodate a small team of other private investment professionals in the near future.
“With traditional capital providers having lost significant market share in the last few years, there is an attractive opportunity for a long-term investor such as PSP Investments to enter this trillion-dollar-plus asset class through its US affiliate,” said fund President and CEO André Bourbonnais.
Building a presence in New York is “the first step in making PSP Investments a truly global pension investment manager with a local presence in select international markets,” Bourbonnais added. It is already in the process of opening a European base in London.
PSP joins cadre of Canadian institutions with New York satellites, including the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System.