North America

CANADA/UK - The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) has agreed to buy the operator of the UK National Lottery, Camelot, for an estimated £389m (US$577.7m).

CANADA - The Canadian government will go on road show to get feedback from individuals, and have commissioned a series of reports on how to improve the country's pension system.

AUSTRALIA/CANADA - Australian pension reserve fund Future Fund has terminated discussions with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) regarding their proposal to acquire Transurban Group.

US - The California Public Employees' Retirement System has announced plans to ask 58 of the top US firms in its global equity portfolio to adopt the majority vote standard in uncontested elections for corporate directors.

CANADA - The Ontario Municipal Employees' Retirement System posted returns of 10.6% in 2009, but its scheme deficit still increased more then five-fold over the year to C$1.5bn (US$1.45bn).

US - The Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois (Illinois TRS) has terminated BlackRock from a US$643.5m domestic enhanced equity mandate for poor performance and hired a slew of other managers.

CANADA - Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec posted a 10% return for 2009 but fell short of its target returns.

US/CANADA - Manager search activity by institutional investors in North America is set to increase 13% above 2009 levels, potentially resulting in a shift in assets of US$420bn this year, a survey by eVestment Alliance and Casey, Quirk & Associates revealed....

CANADA - The University of Toronto pension and endowment fund is set to adopt profound changes to its investment strategy and its investment management structure following a 30% loss on its assets during 2008.

CANADA - Nearly three quarters of Canadian investment managers said their clients do not direct them on how to vote their proxies, a new survey found.