The Public Sector Pension Investment Board is embarking on a joint venture with a real estate firm to build a film and television production studio in Toronto.
According to a memorandum of understanding, Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm Hackman Capital LLP will build the studio on a Downsview property to be leased by the joint venture. This isn’t the first time that PSP has worked with the firm — in 2019, they invested in another joint venture to build an Amazon.com Inc. campus in California.
While the plans will have to be approved by city officials, the joint venture intends to build a nine-hectare facility with multiple sound stages. The budget for the project is estimated to be $200 million.
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In a press release, Kristopher Wojtecki, the PSP’s managing director of real estate investments, said the entertainment industry brings more than $2 billion per year to Canada’s largest city. He also said the new content creation facility would build up the city’s green infrastructure. “Moreover, the studio will embrace an innovative approach to sustainable design that will exceed the City of Toronto’s green standard version 3, tier 2, further demonstrating how PSP is putting sustainability at the centre of our investments strategy.”
In other news, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan are forming a joint venture to take over a major American insurance company.
The Columbian Mutual Life Insurance Co. board unanimously approved an offer from the New York-based Constellation Insurance Holdings Inc, which is a joint venture between the Caisse and the Ontario Teachers’. According to the deal, CMI will be converted into a stock-based company, with all issued stock to be held by CIH following a sponsored demutualization.
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CMI has 750,000 policy-holders throughout the U.S. and US$1.8 billion ($2.24 billion) in assets. The strategic transaction provides for CIH to invest up to US$100 million ($124 million) to fund cash payments to eligible policy-holders and strengthen capitalization and financial ratings of CMI.
The transaction is anticipated to close in the first half of 2022, subject to regulatory and policy-holder approvals. Following the closing, CMI will maintain its brand and leadership team.
In other news, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is selling its stake in six Raffles City developments in Chongqing, China, with the transaction expected to generate $800 million before closing adjustments.
The CPPIB first invested in the Raffles City China development in 2008. According to Guy Fulton, the CPPIB’s managing director of real estate for greater China, the maturation of the Chinese real estate market makes it an ideal time for the investment to be monetized.
Read: PSP invests in telecommunications, CPPIB in biopharmaceuticals