Graham Winfrey

The Canadian institutional fund manager’s infrastructure portfolio, led by Macky Tall (pictured), generated 23.3 percent in returns easily beating the 11% and 7.1% returned by its real estate and private equity portfolios respectively.

A majority of GPs feel there is an expectation from their LPs to commit more personal capital into their own funds, but over a third say they are unable to access the capital to do so, according to a recent study.

While limited partners have had success negotiating fund terms and conditions, changing distribution structures remains a hard sell.

The combined C$160m investment in engineering consulting firm Genivar comes after a robust 12 months for private equity in Canada.

Despite fears of political risk, Africa holds more attractive investment opportunities than the BRIC nations, according to delegates polled at PEI's annual emerging markets conference in London.

Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman said the firm’s LPs reaffirmed their confidence in Blackstone by increasing their commitments in Q3. The firm has a record $33.4bn of dry powder.

The $155bn pension system plans to commit up to $6bn to alternatives over the next three years, including infrastructure.

The firm has agreed three deals since ending negotiations in July with The Carlyle Group, which had expressed interest in purchasing the energy-focused firm.

The number of corporate pensions allocating to alternatives has risen steadily since 2008, but the size of allocations has fallen since last year.

The $13.8bn pension will allocate about $1bn to private assets in FY 2012, including up to $75m for infrastructure and commodities. The fund has also established a dedicated infrastructure allocation, separating infrastructure from the real assets programme.