CALGARY — Canadian Pacific Railway Co. is hiring an outside company to manage a big chunk of the freight carrier’s $5.3-billion corporate pension fund, the Globe and Mail reported.
The Calgary-based railway announced the move on September 10, saying it will shift management of the stock and bond holdings in the pension fund to outside managers.
The fund is now overseen by Canadian Pacific Investment Management Ltd., a wholly owned unit of the railway. The defined benefit pension plan is one of the largest in Canada, with $5.3-billion in assets. The North American stock and bond investments in the fund are worth about $3.5-billion.
Other components of the fund, including real estate and mortgage investments, will continue to be managed by the CP Rail unit, the company said.
External managers currently manage the fund’s foreign stock holdings.
CP Rail said the pension fund change reflects the company’s focus on its core rail business and the demise of the Canadian Pacific Ltd. conglomerate that was broken up a year ago to create several publicly traded operating companies.
In trading on the Toronto stock market Tuesday, CP Rail fell 6 cents to $29.70.