The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec have teamed up to invest close to $160 million in construction consultant Genivar Inc.
Genivar announced that it has completed an equity private placement of 6.5 million common shares from treasury at a price of $24.57 per share.
The CPPIB and the Caisse each invested more than $79 million.
“We are very happy to have received such support from Canada’s two largest institutional investors, said Pierre Shoiry, president and chief executive officer of GENIVAR. “CPPIB and the Caisse’s decision to support Genivar is a sign of their commitment to our domestic and international growth strategy.”
“We believe that GENIVAR’s strong and experienced management team combined with its future growth opportunities, both in Canada and globally, make this a compelling investment for CPPIB,” said Scott Lawrence, vice-president and head of relationship investments with CPPIB.
“The Caisse is proud to invest in this Quebec company that has become a Canadian leader in the engineering consulting industry,” said Normand Provost, executive vice-president of private equity and chief operations officer at the Caisse. “By supporting GENIVAR in its international development projects and its continued growth in Canada, we once again combine returns with economic development in Quebec.”
Genivar has agreed to provide CPPIB and the Caisse with the right to nominate one individual each to Genivar’s board of directors so long as CPPIB and the Caisse each own greater than 9.5% of Genivar’s outstanding common shares.
The number of common shares issued to CPPIB and the Caisse represents 19.92% of the outstanding common shares of the company, with CPPIB holding 9.98% and the Caisse holding 9.96%.