The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has agreed to tender its 41.2% interest in Royal Utilities Income Fund to resource firm Sherritt International. Sherritt, which holds a minority stake in the income trust, is offering to take the company private for $700 million, or $12.25 per unit—a 22% premium to Monday’s closing price. Unitholders will receive […]
The recent collapse in the value of Bear Stearns shares has led to new interest in the role of stock in 401(k) plans, says a note from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. A recent study by the organization finds that the average holdings of company stock in 401(k) plans amounted to 11% of total assets […]
The Pan-Canadian Investors Committee for third-party structured asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) expects to file an application Monday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). It will ask the Court to call a meeting of ABCP noteholders to vote on the committee’s plan to restructure 20 of the trusts […]
An American law firm is investigating possible illegal conduct relating to the Bear Stearns employee stock ownership, profit sharing and deferred compensation plans after the investment bank announced its liquidity position has deteriorated. Pittsburgh-based Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne is looking into whether certain fiduciaries of the plans may have violated the Employee Retirement Income […]
BetaPro Management’s two new agricultural grains exchange-traded funds began trading Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The HBP Agricultural Grains Bull+ ETF offers twice the daily performance, while the HBP Agricultural Grains Bear+ ETF offers twice the inverse daily performance of the DJ-AIG Grains Sub-Index, comprised of soybeans, corn and wheat. Those three commodities have […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), MTS Allstream and The Blackstone Group have formed a consortium to make a deposit and submit an application to bid as a new entrant in the upcoming advanced wireless services spectrum auction. The consortium made a $340 million deposit in the form of letters of credit to Industry […]
The Quebec Superior Court dismissed all claims asserted by or on behalf of certain holders of Bell Canada bonds and approved BCE’s plan of arrangement for the company’s privatization transaction on Friday evening. “The Court’s decisions affirm our long-standing position that the claims of these debenture holders are without merit and that BCE acted in […]
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) opposes proposed state bill legislation that would restrict it from new or renewing investments with private equity firms wholly or partially owned by a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) affiliated with a country with a poor record on human rights. California Assembly Bill 1967 targets private equity investments, which […]
The president and CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board appeared before two Congressional subcommittees in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday and invited U.S. policy makers to examine the structural characteristics and maximum-strength governance model that distinguish the CPPIB from sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). “At the heart of the sovereign funds issue is the question […]
It’s unlikely that most U.S. companies can achieve the pension investment-return assumptions they have set, says Warren Buffett in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. For the 363 companies in the S&P 500 that have pension plans, this assumption averaged 8% in 2006. The average holdings of bonds and cash for all pension funds […]