CPPIB Canadian general partner Q1 2008 performance numbers

This post covers the Canadian general partners that have been lucky enough to receive a limited partner commitment from the CPPIB. For the fifth consecutive quarter, Canada’s very own national pension fund didn’t make a single new direct formal commitment to a Canadian general partner (Buyout, Venture, Venture Debt or Mezzanine).

The CPPIB team did commit, however, to five U.S. and international GPs during the first quarter of 2008 (ahead of the four per quarter pace of 2007). That means that the last 21 GP commitments have been anywhere but Canada.

The good news for Canadian retirees is clear: we may not have our own domestic economy in 2035, but at least our pension plan will be diversified.

When you ask yourself why Canada is living through a venture capital crisis (see prior posts “Deloitte’s study on Canadian VC Crisis is well-timed“, December 6-07 and “Ontario politicians asked to address deteriorating VC climate part 2” October 26-07), remember that 21-0 scorecard.

If you are a regular visitor to the site, you’ll know that we pull the figures showing the performance results that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is receiving from its GP relationships (they’ll want me to remind you that’s calendar Q1, not CPPIB’s fiscal Q1).

The figures that follow cover four categories: CPPIB’s commitment, paid-in-capital (which tells you how much of the fund is invested in deals and/or drawn to pay management fees) reported value, and reported value + distributions (which tells you what the notional simple return of the fund is against the paid-in-capital figure). That figure is based in large part on what the manager believes the portfolio is worth as at March 31, 2008, subject to GAAP fair value accounting. MM means millions.

As we’ve done in the past, I’ve added our own Fund II returns (as at Q1/08) as they get muddled when included as part of the CPPIB Legacy fund of fund program that committed $10 million in December 2004 (back when Edgestone ran the program for CPPIB) to our $83MM Wellington Financial Fund II. Fund II ceased pursuing new transactions in August 2006 with the first closing of our $125.9MM Fund III that month (CPPIB doesn’t have $ in our Fund III via TD’s VC fund-of-fund program):

Canadian Venture Funds

Celtic House VP Fund II (2002 US$):
$13.5MM, $13.1MM (97%), $62.6MM, $73.2MM (+458.8%)

Celtic House VP Fund III (2005):
$50MM, $19.1MM (38.2%), $3.6MM, $3.7MM (-80.6%)

Edgestone Venture Fund (2000):
$50MM, $44.6MM (89.2%), $9.4MM, $50.1MM (+12.3%)

Edgestone Venture Fund II (2004):
$50MM, $36.6MM (73.2%), $33.9MM, $33.9MM (-7.4%)

Lumira/MDS Life Sciences Technology Fund II (2002):
$200MM, $103.1MM (51.6%), $49.9MM, $103.3MM (+0.2%)

Skypoint Telecom Fund II (2001 US$):
$25MM, $21.8MM (87.2%), $10.8MM, $14.3MM (-34.4%)

TD Capital Legacy VC Fund (2002):
$82MM (originally $100MM), $55MM (67.1%), $34.4MM, $43.4MM (-21.1%)

Ventures West 8 (2003):
$50MM, $32.8MM (65.6%), $28.1MM, $28.4MM (-13.4%)

Wellington Financial Fund II (12-2004):
(CPPIB participated in our $83MM Fund II via a $10MM commitment by the Legacy VC Fund)
$83MM fund size, $56.3MM (67.9%), $8.3MM, $69.8MM (+24%)

Canadian Buyout Funds

Birch Hill Equity Partners III (2005):
$85MM, $37MM (43.5%), $36.9MM, $40MM (+8.1%)

Edgestone Equity Fund II (2002):
$100MM, $78.1MM (78.1%), $54.7MM, $111.9MM (+43.3%)

Edgestone Equity Fund III (2006):
$100MM, $30.2MM (30.2%), $28.9MM, $42.9MM (+42.1%)

Kensington Co-investment Fund (2002):
$40MM, $42.3MM (105.8%), $33.9MM, $71.5MM (+69%)

Onex Partners (2003 US$):
$150MM, $139.1MM (92.7%), $147.1MM, $309.7MM (+122.6%)

TD Capital CFOF Legacy Buyout (2002):
$121MM, $98.5MM (81.4%), $86.5MM, $122.4MM (+24.3%)

Tricap Restructuring Fund (2001):
$150MM, $151.4MM (100.9%), $29.7MM, $253.2MM (+67.2%)

Tricap II (2006):
$300MM, $149.3MM (49.8%), $107.9MM, $184.9MM (+23.8%)

Over at Celtic House, it was a real treat to see the huge gain in Q1 for their Fund II. CPPIB’s NAV jumped from $21.9MM to $73.2MM, although Fund III fell from $12.9MM to $3.7MM (see prior post “CPPIB Canadian general partner Q4 2007 performance numbers” May 30-08). On a portfolio basis, it was still a huge win.

Kensington’s co-investment fund is doing very well.

The CPPIB NAV at Onex Partners fell during the quarter, probably along with the stock market: what was worth $342.7MM in December came in at $309.7MM in March. Still up handsomely from a paid-up-capital figure of $139.1MM.

I’ll tackle the non-Canadian GP results later this week.

MRM