Chennai, NFAPost: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan, and Edelweiss Group, diversified financial services conglomerate, have announced that Ontario Teachers’ has signed an agreement for an investment of $350 million (Rs 2,600 crore) with Edelweiss Alternate Asset Advisors, the largest private debt manager in India with assets under management of approximately $3 billion (Rs 23,400 crore).
The agreement represents a long-term partnership between Ontario Teachers’ and Edelweiss Group that will focus on performing and distressed private credit investment opportunities in the Indian market.
Despite the global economic uncertainty amidst the current pandemic, this commitment from Ontario Teachers’ is a strong endorsement of the Indian alternative asset management space as well as the robust and unique private debt platform built by EAAA.
Speaking about the development, Edelweiss Group Chairman and CEO Rashesh Shah said, “This partnership comes at a time when there is a thrust towards empowering and enabling India to become a global manufacturing hub as vocalised by the Government’s ‘Atmanirbhar – self reliance’ vision.”
“The need for long term patient capital in India presents a huge opportunity for private debt managers. At Edelweiss, we have built deep capabilities in this space and I am honoured by the trust placed in us by the highly respected Ontario Teachers’ team,” he added.
Ontario Teachers’ Senior Managing Director, Capital Markets Gillian Brown said, “We are pleased to enter into a long-term partnership with Edelweiss Group, which has a proven track record and demonstrated ability to originate, underwrite, structure and realise on private credit investments in India. This partnership will further expand our presence in, and provide additional insights on, the important Indian market.”
EAAA, the largest Indian private debt platform, is a part of the decade old Edelweiss Asset Management business which manages customer assets aggregating approximately Rs 1,00,000 crore across Alternatives, Mutual Funds and Distressed Assets. EAAA focuses on providing high quality investment opportunities in alternatives in India, catering to international and domestic investors. Since inception, it has been attracting investments from some of the largest global insurance companies and pension funds.
Ontario Teachers’ Regional Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Ben Chan said, “We are excited to invest with Edelweiss to bolster our exposure to the Indian credit market. This is an important milestone in our ambition to build multi asset class exposure to India’s long-term growth story. As a global investor, Ontario Teachers’ hopes to leverage our select list of partners including Edelweiss for local insights and acumen as we navigate to grow profitably in this important market.”
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) is the administrator of Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan, with $204.7 billion in net assets. It holds a diverse global portfolio of assets, approximately 80% of which is managed in-house, and has earned an annual total-fund net return of 9.5% since the plan’s founding in 1990.
Ontario Teachers’ is an independent organisation headquartered in Toronto. Its Asia-Pacific region office is located in Hong Kong and its Europe, Middle East & Africa region office is in London. The defined-benefit plan, which is fully funded as at January 1, 2020, invests and administers the pensions of the province of Ontario’s 329,000 active and retired teachers.
