Another Canadian pension fund is hiring from Goldman and elsewhere
If you want to move out of banking and into the buy-side in London, Canadian pension funds have become the places to target. As we reported previously, the private debt fund of Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board has been hiring in London this year. So too has Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a Québécois pension fund close to Trafalgar Square. Now it seems that the CPP Investment Board (CPP IB), the investment arm of the Canadian Pension Plan is busy adding staff as well.
The latest CPP IB hire is Sergio Fraile Heras, a former short term rates trader at Goldman Sachs. After just 14 months at Goldman, preceded by 23 months at UBS, Heras joined CPP IB as an associate in London this month.
The Canadian Pension Plan is both large and successful. It manages the retirement funds of 20 million Canadians and at March 31 this year had CA$317bn (US$254bn) of assets under management. Its return over the previous five years was 11.8%. The fund invests across private equity, public markets, real estate and infrastructure with the aim of maximizing its rate of return whilst minimizing its risk.
Heras isn't CPP IB's only London hire this year. Nor is he the only hire from a bank. In January the fund hired Moritz Lindhorst from Morgan Stanley as an analyst on its infrastructure team. In April it hired Andrew Morris from Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management to its real estate team, along with Mateusz Sojecki from Bank of America Merrill Lynch as an associate.
CPP IB isn't fixated on hiring from banks though. It runs its own London graduate training scheme and just recruited Gabriel Ropek-Zackon, an Oxford University graduate with a first class degree in economics and management. Earlier this year, it also hired Bindu Dasari Besser at principal level from U.S. fund of hedge funds Davidson Kempner Capital Management in July, and Derek Jackson as managing director of credit investments from Davidson Kempner in May. In 2017, it's also hired from Deloitte and Brookfield Financial, an independent investment bank focused on real estate.
The most recent accounts for the Canadian Pension Plan's investment board suggest just 2% of the fund's assets are invested in the UK. Like many investment banks, the fund defers a proportion of its bonuses over a three year period. In 2017, Alain Carrier, head of its European office, earned CA$2.7m (US$2.2m).
Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com
Photo credit: Roadtrip to Canadian Rockies by Shawn Harquail is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
