The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is selling its stake in a scandal-ridden French home care company for €26.1 million — 6.18 per cent of the value of the initial investment.
The move follows a restructuring agreement that provides Orpea Groupe’s bondholders with control of the majority of its equity. As part of the terms, other equity holders saw their shares diluted, with the CPPIB’s stake falling from 14.5 per cent to 0.4 per cent. The Canadian investment organization purchased its stake in Orpea Groupe for €421.8 million in 2013.
The announcement comes two years after the French company, which operates nursing homes, retirement homes and medical clinics in 23 European countries, was accused, in a news report, of misappropriating public funds and mistreating elderly people. French police later conducted a series of raids on several Orpea Groupe facilities.
In other news, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice is providing a U.S. department store with protection from creditors, including the real estate arms of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Last month, Nordstrom Inc. announced it would cease operating its 13 Canadian stores due to poor performance. For the retailer to break its leases on store locations in malls owned by Cadillac Fairview, Ivanhoe Cambridge and Oxford Properties, it required the court to approve its application for creditor protection through the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
The investment organizations and other creditors will receive some compensation based on the profits of a liquidation sale. The sale, which is expected to end in June, will be managed by a third-party administrator.
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