The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is among the investors committing more than $600 million to eStruxture Data Centers Inc., a data centre provider in Montreal.
The investment will fund eStruxture’s acquisition of data centre provider Aptum Technologies and additional capital expansion projects in Canada, according to a press release. The other investors include Fengate Asset Management, as well as a group of Canadian banks and a credit facility with Deutsche Bank. The Caisse previously invested in eStruxture in 2017 and in 2019.
Read: Caisse investing in data centre operator, telecom infrastructure
“This transaction — eStruxture’s fifth acquisition since its creation in 2017 — consolidates its presence on a national scale,” said Kim Thomassin, executive vice-president of investments in Quebec and stewardship investing at the Caisse, in the release. “This investment is in line with our focus on the expansion of Quebec companies into new markets.”
In other investment news, the Investment Management Corp. of Ontario is investing US$325 million in Breakthrough Properties’ life science property fund, which aims to develop and assemble a portfolio of life science properties in leading U.S.-based technology centres.
The fund’s first investment includes the proposed development of an enterprise research campus at Harvard University, which includes a 14-acre mixed-use site preliminarily approved for 900,000 square feet of lab, hotel, conference and residential uses, according to a press release.
Read: IMCO reporting 5.4% net return for 2020
“Strong demographic tailwinds and record-breaking funding and activity in life sciences have created fundamentally sound conditions for our commitment to the fund,” said Brian Whibbs, managing director of the IMCO, in the release. “Adding exposure to this research sector is well aligned with our strategy to diversify our real-estate portfolio and we expect these assets will create long-term value for our clients.”
And the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and private equity firm Cinven have completed their acquisition of Compre Group from CBPE Capital.
The BCI and Cinven are now the majority shareholders of Compre, according to a press release, which noted the company’s management team will remain in their roles as minority shareholders. Compre is a consolidator of discontinued non-life insurance portfolios and has operations in Bermuda, Finland, Germany, Malta, the U.K. and Switzerland.
Read: CPPIB investing in Seattle real estate, BCI in legacy acquirer