The federal Competition Bureau has given the green light to two pension fund asset managers to purchase TimberWest Forest Corp. for US$1.03 billion. The sale is now expected to close next week.
Shareholders approved the sale of TimberWest to British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) earlier this month.
B.C. Investment Management manages a portfolio of more than $86 billion for its clients, which include public sector pension plans, insurance funds and public trusts.
PSP Investments is an investment manager that manages investments for the pension funds of the Public Service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Reserve Force.
TimberWest is Western Canada’s largest private timber and land management company, with about 327,000 hectares of private land. It sells timber and real estate.
Managed timberlands are often-cited by institutional money managers as preferred “real assets”, along with infrastructure.