Letter from the CEO

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of how OMERS members keep communities safe, clean and livable, and we are so very grateful to each of you. We remain deeply humbled to serve you!

The purpose of this correspondence is to share key financial and non-financial highlights for 2021, and I hope you agree that OMERS had a strong year on behalf of our 541,000 members.

Financial Highlights:

We are proud to share with you today that our Plan earned a return in 2021 of 15.7%, net of expenses, which equates to $16.4 billion of net investment income. This result exceeded the Plan’s absolute benchmark return of 6.6% by more than $9 billion, growing OMERS net assets to $121 billion as at December 31, 2021. We proudly paid more than 188,000 pensioners an average annual pension of $26,937 in 2021. As long-term investors, our 10-year average return now stands at 8.0%.

Our strategy of global diversification, and a relentless focus on a portfolio of high-quality assets, delivered exceptional returns for our hard-working members and valued retirees in 2021. We are pleased that we exceeded our benchmarks across all aspects of our portfolio. Our dedicated, global investment teams, who are so proud to work on your behalf, unlocked significant opportunities across the world. /sites/omers-newsletter/static/images/sites/omers-newsletter/static/images/sites/omers-newsletter/static/images/sites/omers-newsletter/static/images Four key factors drove the outperformance relative to our benchmark:

• Our portfolio of public equities returned 20.7%, reflecting a strong year in public markets.

• Our private equity businesses grew earnings, both organically and through acquisitions. Private Equity returned 25.8%, which reflects higher valuations across our portfolio, including Ventures and Growth Equity, and the sale of one of our European service businesses during the year.

• Our higher allocation to industrial real estate assets created value as demand grew for warehousing and logistics spaces, resulting from the strength of e-commerce. Our real estate assets earned a 15.9% return and our real estate business, Oxford Properties, continued to expand its global footprint.

• Our infrastructure investments continued to deliver positive and consistent returns, earning 10.7% in 2021, underscoring our long-term strength in this asset class.

Non-Financial Highlights:

We remain deeply committed to you and the broader community at large, and we are taking steps to address the impact of climate change on our portfolio and our exposure to climate risk. In 2021, OMERS made a commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across our portfolio by 2050. This long-term goal complements the short-term goal we announced last year of reducing our portfolio’s carbon intensity by 20% by 2025. You, our members, have told us that this is important to you. We have heard you and believe by executing properly over time, it will be a win-win strategy both for OMERS and the planet.

Throughout 2021, we remained completely focused on providing strong service to our members, who span five generations, through our dedicated Pensions team. This included fulfilling our promise to pensioners – paying more than 188,000 pensioners over $5.4 billion in pension payments.

We improved services to members including a new retirement planner tool in myOMERS to help you make well-informed decisions about your retirement. We continued to find new and innovative ways to answer your questions and provide information throughout your pension journey – virtually, in person, through secure communications, live seminars and through our dedicated Member Experience Contact Centre.

Providing excellent service to members is core to what we do and in 2021 members rated us with a 93% satisfaction score. We will continue to work hard every day to maintain your trust and deliver the service you expect from us. We want to do better and make that commitment to you.

In Conclusion:

In short, 2021 was a very favourable year for OMERS on so many fronts, with dedicated global teams delivering on your behalf.

This year, we will be celebrating an important milestone – OMERS 60th anniversary! For six decades, OMERS has been providing secure defined benefit pensions to members. We are deeply grateful to each of you and remain fully committed to serving the people who take care of our Ontario communities.

As we look to the future, we are focused on building a sustainable, affordable and meaningful pension plan for the next 60 years and beyond, and increasing its strength and resilience to mitigate the risks facing the Plan. To learn more about both OMERS performance and the steps we are taking to better position ourselves against future uncertainties, please read OMERS 2021 Annual Report.

I look forward to seeing you at the OMERS Virtual Annual Meeting or at other events throughout the year. Until then, please keep safe and healthy.