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The former head of Canada’s largest pension fund joins Singapore VC

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The former head of Canada’s Investment Plans Investment Committee is joining a Singapore-based venture capital group after deciding to fly to the Middle East to receive the Covid-19 vaccine after leaving the fund, causing a national setback.

Mark Cars, nor he resigned in February as CEO of the $ 356 billion fund, he will join the Serendipity Capital board on August 1st.

Serendipity, a venture capital group created in 2020, is investing in financial services, technology and climate-focused companies and has launched in the US to raise $ 250 million from a Spac focused on Asia.

“All trips must be completed,” he wrote to CPPIB staff in an email and was seen by the Financial Times. “It has been said that traveling is better than getting there. And we’ve traveled well. ”Basically Machin’s tenure officially ended last Tuesday.

Machin personally traveled to the United Arab Emirates for the Covid-19 vaccine in February, which carried out strict travel controls in Canada. The trip sparked outrage, including criticism from Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. “Canadians trust the CPPIB and expect it to be at a higher level,” he said at the time.

Canada’s largest pension fund has averaged 11 per cent a year since Machine took office five years ago, bringing all assets from $ 280 billion to nearly $ 500 billion.

The financier’s move to Asia continued for almost a decade in various CPPIB roles and he returned to the region where he spent much of his career.

Machin trained as a medical doctor before joining Goldman Sachs, worked with the Asian bank for most of two decades, headed investment banks and was vice president of Asia Japan.

Goldman left the CPPIB in 2012, which manages investments in the Canada Pension Plan, a pillar of the country’s retirement system with more than 20 million contributors.

Machin will be the non-executive director of Serendipity and “will help drive the company’s strategy and governance,” said CEO Robert Jesudason.

Serendipity has invested in companies such as Cambridge Quantum Computing in the UK. Soon, Honeywell, along with the quantum computing business, which is a US conglomerate, will be complemented by climate change consulting and investment firms.

“It’s clear [Machin] it brings tremendous experience in managing investments, and understands trends in that industry, ”Jesudason said, and Machine“ also brings deep relationships and insights into Asia and the Pacific. ”

Singapore has made significant investments to position itself as a technology and start-up hub for Southeast Asia, attracting more and more investors. According to the government, more than “200 capitalist risks” are living in the city-state, and they are the largest investment in Southeast Asia.

Investors threw $ 5.5 billion ($ 4.1 billion) into Singapore-based start-ups in 2020, nearly a triple that invested five years ago.

Additional report by Stefania Palma in Singapore

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