Why CPP Investments: Interviews, Careers, & Portfolio

CPP Investments Overview

CPP Investments (also known as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board) is a Canadian Crown investment management organization that was established through the 1997 Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act in order to supervise and invest the funds that are contributed and held by the Canada Pension Plan.

Despite CPP being a Crown corporation, it is not considered as a sovereign wealth fund. This is because it operates closely from the Government of Canada and only manages CPP contributions from employers and workers, and not public funds.

CPP Investments invests in public companies, real estate, and private equity and is currently based in Toronto, Canada.

John Graham currently leads the firm as its President & CEO since February 2021 and is responsible for CPP’s investment activities.

CPP Investments AUM

According to CPP Investments’ published record on their official website, the firm has a $590.8 billion fund as of December 31, 2023.

CPP Investments Interview Process & Questions

Despite the changes in the interview changes for each candidate, the general nature of the process stays the same for the most part. In fact, you can anticipate the following:

• Interview rounds: 4-6
• Initial interviews are supervised by junior professionals, while later rounds are handled by more senior folks
• Unless it’s on-campus or on-cycle recruiting, expect that the entire process will last for multiple weeks

Get ready to answer a mixture of behavioral questions, technical questions, and fit questions when you interview at CPP Investments.

To help you with preparation, I’ve created a Growth Equity Interview Guide. Feel free to check it out.

Why CPP Investments

One of the questions you must prepare for is the “Why this firm” question.

If you’ve met employees at the firm during your networking efforts, make sure to mention them and how their experiences and testimonies helped in choosing their firm.

Also, do your homework and research the firm. You can try listening to interviews with its founders, management team, and investors to get to know them better.

For starters, check out this interview with John Graham, President & CEO at CPP Investments:

More Interview

• Ed Cass, Chief Investment Officer at CPP, on the state of markets and CPP Investments’ evolution

CPP Investments Case Study

Communication skills and technical knowledge are two traits that investment firms highly value. To evaluate these, firms like CPP Investments ask candidates to perform case studies.

Most case studies will have you do financial modeling and investment recommendations. But for junior roles, a cold calling case study may also be part of the process.

Check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide if you need more help regarding case studies.

CPP Investments Salary & Compensation

According to Glassdoor, analysts and associates at CPP Investments have earned salaries of $107K and $137K per year, respectively. Actual figures may vary depending on several factors.

Analyst

Associate

CPP Investments Careers, Jobs, & Internships

View open roles at CPP Investments inside our job board where we also feature all open roles for similar firms.

CPP Investments Portfolio & Investments

According to Crunchbase, CPP Investments has made 20 investments and one acquisition. Some of their notable deals include Groupe ADP, VerSe Innovation, and Emeritus.

Notable Transaction: Aera Energy 

Aera Energy, a joint venture between ExxonMobil and Shell, is the second largest oil and gas producer in California which accounts for nearly one quarter of the state’s production.

Most of Aera Energy’s oil produce comes from Kern county but they also have active oil fields in Fresno, Monterey, and Ventura counties.

In September 2022, IKAV, an asset management group in Germany which has renewables expertise and a strong record of managing US energy assets, decided to acquire Aera Energy.

CPP Investments, one of the largest institutional investors in the world, agreed to purchase 49% of Aera from IKAV.

Next Steps

If you decide to send your application and build your investing career at CPP Investments, I would highly recommend that you check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide first before attending interviews.

Growth Equity Interview Guide helps professionals get a good grasp of topics that are typically covered during interviews such as financial modeling, case studies, and more. Check it out and start learning today!