The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is partnering with private equity firm Australis Partners and the International Finance Corp., a part of the World Bank Group, to acquire 50 per cent stakes in Colombia-based Alianza Fiduciaria and Alianza Valores.
Both firms are owned by Advent International, a British private equity firm. Alianza Fiduciaria is a trust and asset management company that manages more than 5,500 trust businesses and about $18 billion in consolidated assets. Alianza Valores is a brokerage house that offers fixed income, equities and foreign exchange among other services.
Read: Caisse loans $313M to Colombian energy company
The three partners and the Organización DeLima, a group of Colombian executives that work in sectors including insurance brokerages, financial services and agriculture, have formed an investment alliance to manage the investment in the two companies.
The Caisse also reached a private agreement with information technology company CGI Inc. for the purchase for cancellation of 5,158,362 of its class A subordinate voting shares currently held by the Caisse.
CGI will buy the shares at $96.93 per share, at a few dollars’ discount from its current trading levels. Once the deal is complete, the Caisse will still hold 37.4 million class A shares in the company, totally about 13.9 per cent of its outstanding shares.
“CDPQ rebalances its portfolio periodically, during the right conditions,” said Charles Émond, executive vice-president and head of Québec investments and global strategic planning at the Caisse, in a press release.
Read: Caisse to rebalance portfolio, sell part of Quebec IT company
“CGI has delivered excellent results for its shareholders, and this transaction is an opportunity to monetize a portion of our investment in the company to the benefit of our depositors. Following this transaction, we will continue as a significant shareholder of the company, and given the long-term nature of this investment, we intend to remain so to support the growth of this information technology leader. CGI is well positioned to continue its success at home and in international markets.”
In other investment news, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System is becoming a 25 per cent indirect shareholder in VTG, a European railcar leasing and logistics company.
“We are happy to have completed our second infrastructure investment in Germany,” said Ralph Berg, global head of infrastructure at the OMERS. “VTG is a strong addition to our growing global portfolio and fits our strategy of actively supporting stable, industry-leading infrastructure businesses to help us meet our long-term pension obligations.”