OMERS, officially the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, is a pension fund created by statute in 1962 to handle the retirement benefits of local government employees in the Canadian province of Ontario. It has become one of the largest institutional investors in Canada. Over the past 20 years approximately two-thirds of the capital added to the pension fund has been through investment returns, while about 1/3 has been added by contributions split evenly between employees and employers. As of December 2013, OMERS had 65.1 billion Canadian dollars in net investment assets. OMERS serves 982 employers and almost 440,000 members, retirees and survivors, including municipal workers, firefighters, police, emergency services staff, Children's Aid Society workers, school board staff (non-teaching), and transit and hydro workers.
OMERS is governed by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Act, 2006, an Ontario law which superseded the older Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System Act.
Under the 2006 law, OMERS is composed of two corporations:
The Administration Corporation, formerly known as the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Board, is responsible for day-to-day operations, including management of pensions and investments.
The Sponsors Corporation, which represents employer, employee and retiree members of the plan, is responsible for overall plan design and sets the rules for appointment and compensation of its own board and the Administration Corporation board.
OMERS has five major investment divisions:
Borealis Infrastructure, which invests in public infrastructure
OMERS Capital Markets, which manages investment in the public markets, such as government bonds and stock in publicly traded companies
OMERS Private Equity, which concentrates on private equity investment
Oxford Properties, which owns real estate such as office buildings and shopping centres
OMERS Strategic Investments, which includes a venture capital arm, OMERS Ventures.
OMERS investment strategy since 2003 has been to increase its investment in infrastructure to 15% from the former 7.9%. In addition to the corporate assets outlined below, Borealis owns 16 school buildings, leased to the Province of Nova Scotia, and 12 nursing home buildings, leased to the Province of Ontario.
Outline of Borealis assets:
Associated British Ports (33.3%)
BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust
Bruce Power Limited Partnership (BPLP) (31.2%, bought from British Energy in 2003 and 24.9% in 2014 from Cameco Corporation, totaling 56.1%) — including Bruce Nuclear Generating Station Bruce B facility (reactors 3 and 4) and overall management of the station
Bruce Power A Limited Partnership (BALP) (47.4%; created in 2005) — to run Bruce Nuclear Generating Station Bruce A facility (reactors 1 and 2)
BPC Maritime Corporation
Strait Crossing Development Inc. (65%) — operator of the 12.9-kilometre (8.0 mi) Confederation Bridge between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick until 2032
Ceda Holdings Ltd. (owned since 2005) — factory and refinery maintenance
Ciel Satellite Group (partly owned) — owner of the 129°W satellite orbit slot: currently occupied by Ciel-2 since late 2008
Coliseum at Toronto's Exhibition Place (shares income in equity partnership)
Detroit River Rail Tunnel (part owner)
Enwave (majority owned) — district heating operator for Toronto
Enersource Corporation (10%) — an electric company in Mississauga, Ontario
Express Pipeline System (partly owned) — major oil pipeline network, including the Platte Pipeline
LifeLabs (formerly MDS Diagnostics) (owned since 2007) — local diagnostic laboratories in Ontario and British Columbia
Porter Aviation Holdings (part investor)Porter Airlines
Ellevio, electricity distribution networks in Sweden together with Folksam, Första AP-fonden and Tredje AP-fonden formerly owned by Fortum
Part of Caruna, electricity distribution networks in Finland formerly owned by Fortum
Scotia Gas Networks (25% owned) — gas works for southern parts of England and 75% of Scotland
High Speed 1
Among the private companies OPE owns are Marketwire (purchased at the end of 2006) and Oxford Properties (purchased at the beginning of 2003)
OMERS and Apax Partners (a fund OMERS invests in) jointly own Cengage Learning, a large education resource company formerly known as Thomson Learning before OMERS and Apax Partners bought it on May 11, 2007. Some parts of Thomson Learning had been sold off to other groups before this sale. Among Cengage's major brands are Gale (formerly Thomson Gale) and Nelson Education (Nelson Canada, not Nelson USA Education).
Outline of OPE assets:
Affinia Group Inc. (20%) — aftermarket car parts manufacturer
Avago
Cari-All Group Inc. — shopping cart and shelving manufacturer
CHG Healthcare Services — provider of locum tenens (temporary physician staff)
Constellation Software Inc. (34%) — vertical market software maker
Cookie Jar Group (formerly Cinar) — television production and educational material publisher
Cookie Jar Education
Carson-Dellosa — classroom educational material publisher/manufacturer
HighReach Learning — retail educational material publisher/manufacturer
Cookie Jar Entertainment
DIC Entertainment (to merge in late 2008)
KidsCo (33.3%) — children's television channel
Faiveley Transport — railroad equipment manufacturer
Give and Go Prepared Foods Corp. — Toronto wholesale bakery
Golf Town — largest Canadian golf retailer
Honsel International Technologies (partly owned since 2004) — auto part metal manufacturer
Husky Injection Molding Systems (Partly owned since 2011) - Injection molding systems manufacturer
Jostens
Marketwire — press release firm
MAAX Inc. (partly owned since 2004) — bathtub and cabinet manufacturer
Maxxam Analytics
Nelson Education (Nelson Canada) (OMERS is majority owner, but brand is treated as part of Cengage Learning) — education publisher
Q9 Networks (partly owned since 2001) — Internet infrastructure and data centre operator
Sitel (formerly Client Logic) (9%) — outsourced customer care and back office operations
SunGard Data Systems Inc.
TeraGo Networks Inc. — wireless broadband Internet service provider
Trident Exploration Corp. — natural gas (coalbed methane) exploration in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin
Vue_Cinemas (Bought in 2013 with Alberta Investment Management Corporation for £935 Million)
Warner Chilcott (less than 5%) — pharmaceutical company
Xantrex (partly owned since 1999) — power inverter manufacturer
