Top Canadian pension fund halts deals with UAE firm over Epstein ties | Business and Economy News

La Caisse suspends investments with Dubai-based DP World over chief executive’s links to Epstein.

Canada’s second-largest pension fund has announced that it will suspend future investments with United Arab Emirates-based DP World following revelations of ties between the logistics firm’s chief executive and the late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

La Caisse said on Tuesday that it would not carry out further investments alongside the company until it shed light on chief executive Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem’s links to Epstein and took “necessary actions”.

“To be clear, we are not invested in DP World. It is a partner of ours in port projects around the world, but we are not shareholders of the parent company,” a spokesperson for La Caisse, which manages the state pension fund in Quebec, said in a statement.

“It is also important to distinguish the company, DP World, from the individual, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, who is the focus of the current situation. On that point, we have made it clear to the company that we expect it to shed light on the situation and take the necessary actions.”

La Caisse’s announcement comes after the release of millions of files by the US Justice Department last week, which revealed years of communications between bin Sulayem and Epstein, including discussions about the Emirati businessman’s relationships with women and his plans to visit Epstein’s home.

In a speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, Democratic lawmaker Ro Khanna named bin Sulayem as one of six men whose identities had been previously redacted from the so-called Epstein files.

Khanna did not allege any specific criminality by bin Sulayem, and inclusion in the files does not by itself suggest wrongdoing.

Khanna also named the American billionaire Les Wexner and four other men whose identities have not been confirmed.

Wexner, the founder of the retail empire that includes Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret, has denied having knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and said that the disgraced financier stole from him when he was employed to manage his finances.

Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking, is the only person to have been charged in the case apart from the financier, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial.

DP World, which is based in Dubai, and bin Sulayem did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

DP World operates more than 60 ports and terminals worldwide and counts La Caisse as a major investment partner through its joint venture DP World in Canada.

In September, DP World in Canada announced plans to build a container terminal at the Port of Montreal, adding to its port operations in Vancouver, Fraser Surrey, Nanaimo, Prince Rupert and Saint John.

La Caisse, which managed 473.3 billion Canadian dollars ($350bn) in assets as of December 2024, has also invested in various DP World projects outside of Canada.

In 2022, the pension fund invested $2.5bn in Jebel Ali Port, the Jebel Ali Free Zone and the National Industries Park, three of the firm’s flagship assets in the UAE.