Canadian pension funds keen on PPP projects

Canadian pension organizations have expressed interest in the country’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects, the PPP Center said on Monday.

PPP Center executive director Cosette V. Canilao joined a delegation led by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario in several meetings with these pension funds in Canada two weeks ago.

Canilao met with Ontario’s various pension funds including the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, PPP Center said in a statement.

“We presented the PPP programs and the reforms that we’ve been doing. We pointed out to them the recent ADB study which says that the Philippines was the country in the Asean that is most ready for PPP,” Canilao added in a phone interview Monday.

She was referring to the 2011 Infrascope, in which the Philippines ranked eighth among 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of having an ideal environment for PPP projects, ahead of neighbors Indonesia (9th), Thailand (10th) and Vietnam (14th).

“The pension organizations are looking at investing in emerging markets,” Canilao said.

The Philippine delegation also presented the PPP program as one of the opportunities for foreign investments during a meeting with the Canadian Chambers of Commerce and Business Enablers.

“These organizations are committed to forge robust alliances to grow asset base in emerging markets, working within an environment of accountability, transparency, and refined risk management,” Canilao said.

According to the PPP Center, available infrastructure funds in the country, particularly for PPP projects, have been increasing.

In less than two years since the program was launched, a number of private sector-led infrastructure funds, such as the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure Fund managed by Macquarie Infrastructure Management (Asia) Pty Limited Singapore, have been established and readied for investments.