How private equity is adapting to create value

What is your background and how does Ontario Teachers’ approach private equity?

Dale Burgess (DB): I’ve been with Teachers’ for close to 30 years. While I am relatively new to private equity, having joined the team last year, I am not new to private investing. I’ve been investing in private markets, in particular in infrastructure and natural resources, for many years.

We invest in private equity for one reason: to earn excess returns over what you could earn in the public markets. This is still the role we expect private equity to play in our portfolio.

What distinguishes the team at Ontario Teachers’ is that we attract a different type of investment professional. It is the people and the mission of the organization that is the most unifying thing about working at Teachers’.

Private equity has got a role, but other asset classes have a role as well. It is a team effort at the end of the day from an institutional perspective. We are in the market representing teachers across a number of different private assets, given the nature of our liabilities. At the end of the day, we are targeting a 7% return as a fund, and that guides everything we do.