Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’) has announced plans to sell all of its remaining stake in Maple Leaf Foods—more than 35 million shares—at a discounted price to underwriters BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities.
Teachers’ said Tuesday it would sell the shares for $10.50 each, about 17% below the market price of $12.69 at close of trading.
The decision to offload the shares in Maple Leaf Foods, which once represented Teachers’ largest holding of a listed company in Canada, represents the second time the fund has cut its stake in the company since August. Teachers’ made an initial announcement Tuesday indicating it had planned to sell 21 million shares at $10.50, leaving it with a 9.9% share in the company. But investor response to the discounted price prompted the fund to divest itself of all its remaining shares.
The sale ends a relationship between the fund and the company that had become increasingly strained. Teachers’ recently pulled its two directors off Maple Leaf Foods’ board in protest of the company’s restructuring plan.
Toronto-based Maple Leaf Foods has struggled to recover from a listeria scare in 2008. Last month the company announced plans to spend $755 million on a reorganization plan expected to start this year and run through 2013. Plans include opening a new large-scale prepared meats plant at a yet-unannounced location, and consolidating three Toronto-area bakeries into one plant located in Hamilton.
