Canada’s Maple 8 Pension Plans Logged 2,723 Deals Since 2023, PwC Study Finds

Canadian public pension plans deal activity and principal investing shift, Digi Mart USA News (Canada): Canada’s eight largest public pension plans sit inside a 16-fund sample that recorded roughly 2,723 disclosed transactions between 2023 and mid-2026, according to a study published by PwC on 12 November in its Sovereign Wealth and Public Pension Fund Study.

North America accounts for about 42 percent of that activity, and the study indicates Canadian plans increasingly buy, build and operate assets rather than only holding financial stakes. The analysis also draws on a comparison with the 350 largest sovereign and pension investors.

The quantitative sample pairs the Maple 8 plans, listed by PwC as AIMCo, BCI, CPP Investments, HOOPP, La Caisse, OMERS, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and PSP Investments, with ADIA, ADQ, GIC, KIA, Mubadala, PIF, QIA and Temasek. PwC says CPP Investments leads on transaction volume alongside GIC, Mubadala and ADIA, but cautions that database coverage varies by fund and the counts are not a precise ranking.

Examples cited in the study include CPP Investments and GIC’s role in the Equinix xScale joint venture, which targets more than $15bn of investable capital for US hyperscale data centres, and PSP Investments’ $2.8bn stake in American Electric Power’s transmission companies alongside KKR. CPP Investments also agreed in September 2025 to acquire a roughly 13 percent stake in Sempra Infrastructure Partners for about $3bn with KKR.

PwC frames three questions for the funds: how much risk is concentrated in portfolios converging on AI, data centres and power; whether funds can originate, diligence and operate complex assets at the pace they commit capital; and how climate goals fit with the round-the-clock electricity data centres require. The study also notes that the 2030 projections, which put public pension assets at US$36.3tn and sovereign wealth assets at US$22.4tn, are model-based outlooks sensitive to oil prices and equity-market performance.

PwC also cautions that headline partnership figures represent multiyear capacity or intent rather than capital deployed, and that funds not disclosing assets under management are carried as third-party estimates and should be read with an error band.