In Panicked Market, Canada Pension Head Says: “Buy”

Mark Wiseman, the chief executive officer of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, spoke about long-term investing at the World Economic Forum this week.

Wiseman said he sees the current market as a “buying opportunity”. More from Bloomberg:

The sell-off roiling stock markets from Shanghai to New York offers an opportunity to buy assets as long-term prospects for economic growth remain favorable, the head of Canada’s largest pension fund said.

“Absolutely it’s a buying opportunity, when the world is panicking and you have a quintessentially long-term view,” Mark Wiseman, the chief executive officer of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, said in an interview at the World Economic Forum. “Whatever negative market sentiment there is, I don’t believe is supported by the facts that are coming out.”

[…]

Rather than change its strategy, CPPIB is buying equities to maintain the balance of its portfolio between stocks, bonds and other assets. The Toronto-based fund manages about C$273 billion ($188.6 billion) on behalf of 18 million Canadian savers.

Separately, CPPIB on Thursday joined five other large institutional investors, including the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, to announce the creation of a stock index focused on long-term performance. The Standard & Poor’s Long Term Value Creation Index is designed to track companies that meet criteria on corporate governance and environmental sustainability, among other measures.

CPPIB manages $188 billion in assets.

Photo by Andreas Poike via Flickr CC License