Canadian pension groups launch Turkey fund

Teachers’ Private Capital, the investment division of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investment Board) have launched Actera Partners, a private equity fund that invests in the Republic of Turkey. Each group has committed €75 million ($97.5 million) to the fund.

Led by Isak Antika and Murat Cavusoglu, Actera is the largest fund to focus on Turkey, CPP said in a statement.

“Turkey is an attractive private equity market, with a large and growing population, a high number of quality mid-market businesses, and a developing economy which is expected to benefit from becoming increasingly harmonized with Europe,” Jim Leech, the senior vice-president of Teachers’ Private Capital, said in the statement.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, worth C$100 billion oversees the pensions of 264,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario. It committed $250 million to the Asian private equity firm MBK Partners’ debut fund in June of 2005.

Toronto-based CCP Investment Board pays current benefits using funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan. It is valued at C$103.3 billion. The group is a limited partner in the €1 billion Partners Group Secondary 2006 Fund, a fund managed by Swiss-listed Partners Group. That fund closed in October of 2006.