Caisse de depot names CEO

Richard Guay, interim president and chief executive of the Canadian pension manager, will officially assume the positions he stepped into last May in addition to his responsibilities as chief investment officer.

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec has appointed chief investment officer Richard Guay as its new president and chief executive officer.

Guay has been interim chief executive officer since May 30 when he took over the responsibilities of Henri-Paul Rousseau. Rousseau left the pension to join Canadian management firm Power. Rousseau remained on as an advisor to Caisse until August 31.

Guay joined the pension fund manager in 1995, becoming the firm’s first chief investment officer when the position was established in 2006. He will retain that position, which has a five-year renewable term, “until further notice”, the firm said in a statement.

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec manages funds largely for public and private pension and insurance plans. At the end of 2007, the firm had C$257.7 billion ($245 billion; €173.3 billion) in net assets under management, with 31 percent of the portfolio committed to alternatives, including 18.7 percent to real estate and11.8 percent to private equity.

Overall returns in 2007 were 5.6 percent or C$7.9 billion.

The group’s buyout arm, CDC Capital, has committed capital to 2008 vintage private equity funds including iNovia Capital’s C$107 million second venture fund for Canadian seed and early stage investments and AXA Private Equity Fund IV which closed on €1.6 billion earlier this summer.