The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec’s chairman and CEO is expected to go before the provincial legislature’s finance committee to explain the organization’s exposure to third-party asset-backed commercial paper(ABCP), according to media reports.
The Globe and Mail and the Montreal Gazette report that efforts are being made for Henri-Paul Rousseau to make a presentation to the committee next week, but it has yet to be officially confirmed.
The Caisse reportedly holds up to $20 billion of third-party ABCP, but it has refused to comment on its exposure because it only discloses its holdings once a year.
The Caisse is also a member of the pan-Canadian investors committee overseeing the restructuring of non-bank ABCP.
Earlier this week, National Bank announced it would take a pre-tax charge of $575 million related to its holdings of third-party ABCP.
During the fourth quarter of 2007, the bank purchased $2.1 billion of ABCP, principally from its own sponsored mutual funds and pooled funds as well as ABCP held by its retail clients, in addition to approximately $150 million of ABCP it already had on its balance sheet.
In a statement, National Bank said its charge “is based upon its valuation estimate of its ABCP holdings which considers the current market conditions affecting the underlying assets of the trusts and National Bank’s expectation that it may be a long-term owner of this ABCP or the instruments which could replace these notes following the proposed restructuring contemplated by the Montreal Accord.”
To comment on this story, email craig.sebastiano@rci.rogers.com.