OMERS#OMERS Infrastructure

{{Redirect|Omers|the ancient Israelite unit of dry measure|Omer (unit)|the singular|Omer (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System

| logo =

| logo_size = 200px

| trade_name = OMERS

| type = Statutory corporation

| industry = Pension fund

| successor =

| foundation = {{Start date and age|1962}}

| location = EY Tower
900-100 Adelaide Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M5H 0E2

| area_served = Participating employers and employees in Ontario, Canada

| key_people = Blake Hutcheson (CEO)
[https://www.omers.com/george-cooke George Cooke] (Board chair, Administration Corporation)
Laurie Hutchinson (CEO, Sponsors Corporation){{Cite web | url = https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2023/gg/bgrd/backgroundfile-239278.pdf | title = GG2.4 - City of Toronto – Financial Update and Outlook | website = City of Toronto | publisher = City of Toronto | date = October 31, 2023 | access-date = 2025-05-02 | format = PDF}}
[https://www.omers.com/sc-board-of-directors Frank Ramagnano] (Board chair, Sponsors Corporation)

| revenue =

| operating_income =

| net_income = OMERS funded status on a smoothed basis was 98% in 2024

| assets = C$138.2 billion (2024){{cite web |date=2025-02-27 |title=OMERS 2024 Annual Report |url=https://downloads.ctfassets.net/iifcbkds7nke/2ign1jtOjM61MIjilFQBWw/666fff978559befebb09d963218d07a8/OMERS_2024_Annual_Report_FINAL-ua.pdf |access-date=2025-05-01 |publisher=OMERS}}

| owner = The participating employers and employees of the OMERS pension plans

| num_employees = estimated 1000

| parent = OMERS Administration Corporation Board of Directors

| divisions = OMERS Infrastructure
OMERS Capital Markets
OMERS Private Equity
Oxford Properties

| homepage = {{URL|https://omers.com}}

| footnotes =

| intl =

}}

The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System{{cite web|url = https://www.omers.com/about-omers

|title = About OMER

|publisher = OMERS

|access-date = 2020-09-17

}} (OMERS) is a Canadian public pension fund, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. OMERS is a defined benefit, jointly sponsored, multi-employer public pension plan created in 1962 by Ontario provincial statute to administer retirement benefits and manage pension investment funds of local government employees in the Canadian province of Ontario. {{As of|2024|06|30|df=US}}, OMERS had C$133 billion of assets under management, and a 7.3% 10-year net return.https://www.omers.com/history OMERS serves over 1,000 participating employers and more than half a million active, deferred and retired employees. OMERS members are employed by municipalities, school boards, transit systems, local electrical distribution companies, police service boards, fire fighting and paramedic services, children's aid societies and associated local agencies, boards and commissions.{{cite web

|url = https://www.omers.com/about-omers

|title = About OMERS

|publisher = OMERS

|access-date = 2020-09-17

}}

In 2010, this fund assumed the pensions of firefighters, police officers, emergency physicians, employees of the Children's Aid Society, school employees other than teachers, public transport employees and Ontario Hydro employees.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

OMERS is one of Canada's top eight pension funds, nicknamed the "Maple 8" or "Maple Revolutionaries."https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2022/12/08/how-peter-drucker-revolutionized-canadas-public-sector-pension-system-lessons-for-americans/

Organization

OMERS is governed by the Ontario Municipal Employee's Retirement Act, 2006, an Ontario law which superseded the older Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System Act. Members contribute 9% of their salary below the Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE), and 14.6% on income over YMPE.

Under the 2006 law, OMERS is composed of two statutory corporations.{{cite web |url=https://www.cavalluzzo.com/docs/default-source/cases/2008-canlii-3970-omers-sponsors-corporation-v-omers-administration-corporation---amanda-darrach.pdf?sfvrsn=27c555d5_2 |title=Omers Administration Corporation |work=cavalluzzo.com |access-date=2020-11-13}} In 2019, OMERS ventures launched a $315M European Venture fund, a fully owned subsidiary of OMERS Ventures led by Managing Partner Harry Briggs.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/25/omers-ventures-europe/|title=Omers Ventures outs €300M European fund — Q&A with Managing Partner Harry Briggs|website=TechCrunch|date=25 March 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-06}}

OMERS is a partner of the World Economic Forum.{{Cite web |title=OMERS |url=https://www.weforum.org/organizations/omers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106031851/https://www.weforum.org/organizations/omers |archive-date=2022-11-06 |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=World Economic Forum |language=en}}

Recent and current operations

In March 2017, OMERS acquired a stake in Kemble, the UK holding company of Thames Water.{{cite news|last1=Ambrose|first1=Jillian|title=Macquarie sells off final stake in Thames Water|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/03/14/macquarie-sells-final-stake-thames-water/|access-date=15 March 2017|work=The Telegraph|date=14 March 2017}} The deeply-indebted water business became embroiled in a financial crisis from 2023, and in May 2024, OMERS, then Thames' biggest shareholder, issued a "full writedown" of its 31.7% stake in Kemble, signalling the shares were now worth nothing.{{cite news |last1=Ambrose |first1=Jillian |title=Thames Water’s biggest investor cuts value of its stake to zero |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/17/thames-water-investor-cuts-value-stake-zero-omers |access-date=21 May 2024 |work=Guardian |date=17 May 2024}}

In November 2023, OMERS announced the acquisition of a 5% indirect stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), the parent company of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors, for $400 million. The stake was purchased through a 20% direct investment in Kilmer Sports Inc (KSI), which is owned by MLSE Chairman Larry Tanenbaum. After the transaction, Tanenbaum will continue as chairman, holding an 80% stake in KSI, while OMERS will function purely as a financial investor without involvement in the operational decisions of MLSE or its teams.{{Cite news |date=2023-11-06 |title=Canada's OMERS buys 5% indirect stake in Toronto Raptors-parent MLSE for $400 mln |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/canadas-omers-buys-5-indirect-stake-toronto-raptors-parent-mlse-400-mln-2023-11-06/ |access-date=2023-11-07}}

25% of OMERS' investments are in Canada. Its largest investment is in Bruce Power.https://www.omers.com/omers-2023-annual-report

The real estate portfolio includes Kingsway Mall and Southcentre Mall in Alberta; Hillcrest Mall, Scarborough Town Centre, Square One Shopping Centre, Upper Canada Mall, and Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Ontario; and, Les Galeries de la Capitale in Quebec.https://downloads.ctfassets.net/iifcbkds7nke/6PbpD0eOfA4RewPTuzqMFh/b164022d0fd1c27c76a45ad9f57ea105/OMERS-2023-Annual-Report.pdf OMERS has over 6,000 residential rental units in Vancouver, the Greater Toronto Area, and Montreal; 15 million square feet of office space in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary; and, is invested in hotels across Canada.https://www.oxfordproperties.com/

In July 2024, Bloomberg News reported some Canadian pension funds were moving away from commercial real estate following recent challenges. Although OMERS was one of the funds that reported a loss in this portfolio, the CEO of OMERS announced they would continue with their strategy.https://www.benefitscanada.com/canadian-investment-review/alts/commercial-real-estate-challenges-forcing-canadian-pension-funds-to-re-evaluate-strategy-report/

OMERS began investing in electric vehicle battery developer and manufacturer, Northvolt, in 2021. A loss on its almost $450 million investment after Northvolt's bankruptcy, was reported by the Globe and Mail in November 2024.https://www.omers.com/news/northvolt-raises-usd2-75-billion-in-equity-to-deploy-further-battery-cell-capacity-expands-swedish-gigafactory-to-60-gwhhttps://financialpost.com/news/omers-us325-million-northvolt-investment