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It is generally a lifestyle to comp trade.

The large pension funds (CPPIB, OTPP as the main Canadian funds) do pay well, they are in the business of trying to recruit top level talent as they are not just asset allocators but also direct investors. That isn’t cheap to do, but they are also pension funds with obligations to the retirees and you can’t be paying people what private firms will be paying.

The diff at the more junior levels is not huge (from what I’ve seen) maybe ~20%. It becomes more of a difference at the senior levels where the difference in all in comp can be large, but at this point it really depends on how far you’ve “made it”. Moving from a top HF/PE firm to a place like CPPIB will most likely involve a pay cut, especially if you are accumulating significant carry, etc.

The comp picture at the MD levels there is ~$1mm all in. With that, you have an extremely stable AUM, lots of interesting work (they need to put a ton of money to work), opportunities within the funds, and also a very reasonable lifestyle. The comp will also include pension benefits/investment in the fund.

They have a very strong reputation among established funds, and I have seen people make the jump (in both directions).

 

Hi! This is a late reply but I went through the CPP recruiting process (Toronto office) in September 2021 and got my offer (this is for the rotational program btw). The case study was really straightforward - they provided a page of instructions that asked for your opinion on whether a company was a worthwhile investment, some equity research reports, and company financials. No further instructions were provided so I just made a quick DCF/comps table and summarized my thesis in a short deck that I walked through with my interviewer in ~20 minutes. It was mostly an interactive discussion and he asked me for my opinion on how the company was doing and prodded at the assumptions in my model. Overall it was super chill!

 

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