Canada pension plan reports 1.8 percent return in latest quarter

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Canada's biggest public plan, said on Friday it delivered net investment returns of 1.8 percent in the latest quarter, benefiting from strong performance in assets that are not publicly traded. The CPPIB, which manages Canada's national pension fund and invests on behalf of 20 million Canadians, has become one of the world's biggest investors in infrastructure and real estate, helping it diversify and reduce its exposure to volatile global equity markets and low-yielding government bonds. "We are confident that our investment strategy will continue to serve the fund through multiple economic cycles," Chief Executive Officer Mark Machin said in a statement. The fund had net assets of C$366.6 billion for the quarter ended June 30, compared with C$356.1 billion at the end of March, it said. In May, CPPIB reported an 11.6 percent return on investments in its latest fiscal year but warned that double-digit growth was not sustainable with competition for assets intensifying. (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)