Canadian business jet manufacturer Bombardier Inc., Montreal, hired Goldman Sachs Asset Management to provide investment management services for $5.4 billion of pension and insurance assets.
In addition, some former Bombardier subsidiaries separately appointed GSAM to manage "pension assets across multiple jurisdictions," GSAM said in a news release.
"We will manage $5.4 billion for Bombardier and $3.6 billion for other clients that are no longer related to Bombardier, but used to be subsidiaries," a spokesman for GSAM said by email. "The additional clients acted independently when appointing GSAM to manage their assets"
The spokesman for GSAM added that these assignments were made on March 31 and that the $9 billion in total assets represents "essentially all" of Bombardier's pension assets.
GSAM also said in the release that the assignment increases its outsourced chief investment officer presence in "two key growing markets," the U.K. and Canada, adding that its asset management business will "expand its Canadian footprint with a new Montreal office."
The spokesman noted that Bombardier had some former U.K. subsidiaries that hired the firm as well.
"We were appointed by two U.K. pension schemes totaling £1.7 billion ($2.2 billion) in assets," the spokesman added
In connection with these appointments, former members of the Bombardier Global Pension Asset Management team, including Richard Neault, have joined GSAM. Mr. Neault, who was formerly vice president, pension asset management and chairman of investment committees at Bombardier, will become a managing director in multiasset solutions within GSAM, the spokesman added.
"Plan sponsors are looking for partners that can assist them across the globe," said Gregory Calnon, global head of the multiasset solutions group within GSAM, in the release. "These exciting assignments allow us to expand in two important pension markets — the United Kingdom and Canada — still in the early days of adopting the OCIO model. These appointments will provide these clients with access to a broader investment platform and the advanced risk management and asset/liability modeling capabilities of a global asset manager."
GSAM had OCIO assets under supervision of about $240 billion as of Dec. 31. GSAM also said in the release it had total defined benefit and defined contribution assets under supervision of approximately $350 billion as of Dec. 31.
GSAM oversaw more than $2 trillion in assets under supervision globally as of March 31.
Bombardier officials could not be reached for additional details.
