The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is boosting its interest in Indian infrastructure conglomerate IndInfravit Trust, after agreeing to pay $173 million for an additional 15.9 per cent of the toll road operator.
The deal, which is scheduled for completion by the middle of May will take the CPPIB’s total stake in the investment trust to 43.8 per cent. Since its launch in 2018, IndInfravit’s has acquired 13 operational road concessions along critical national transportation corridors linking cities in the high-growth Indian states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
Read: CPPIB, OMERS up stake in Indian toll roads, Caisse invests in digital health company
“Furthering our commitment to IndInfravit reflects our ongoing commitment to investment in India, as well as our ability to support IndInfravit’s future growth opportunities and enhances our ability to deliver solid long term, risk adjusted returns to CPP contributors and beneficiaries,” said Scott Lawrence, CPPIB’s managing director and head of infrastructure, in a statement.
The CPPIB is also getting into France’s real estate debt market after committing €185 million ($273 million) to a partnership between its Real Asset Credit investment group and fund manager Acofi Gestion. The pair plan to target mid-market borrowers seeking debt financing for commercial real estate across France.
In a statement, Alain Carrier, the CPPIB’s head of international, said the partnership would build on its existing European lending business in Spain and Portugal. “With France as one of the largest commercial real estate markets in Europe, we have identified a clear shortage of local, flexible and structured sources of debt finance, particularly for more complex transactions.”
Read: Caisse investing in data centres, IMCO in life science real estate
In other news, the Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec announced a $1.6-billion deal with real estate investment trust American Tower Corporation for a share of its European communications holdings. The transaction, scheduled to close in the third quarter of 2021, will see the Caisse acquire a 30-per-cent stake in ATC Europe, along with seats on the board of directors and certain governance rights, while American Tower retains managerial and operational control of its European business. According to a press release, ATC Europe’s portfolio includes almost 30,000 wireless and broadcast communications sites.
Meanwhile, the Caisse has teamed up with CVC Capital Partners to acquire a majority stake in the international agencies of Chinese marketing and advertising giant BlueFocus Intelligent Communication Group. Under the agreement, a new global platform headquartered in Quebec City will be formed to house the existing BlueFocus International agencies: Vision& International, We Are Social and fuseproject. Terms were not announced for the deal, which is also expected to close in 2021’s third quarter.
Closer to home, the Caisse was also among a group of investors who committed $600 million to Canadian cloud data service provider eStruxture. According to a news release, eStruxture will use the cash to fund its acquisition of the Canadian business of data centre provider Aptum Technologies, as well as other capital expansion projects across the country. “This investment is in line with our focus on the expansion of Québec companies into new markets,” said Kim Thomassin, the Caisse’s executive vice-president of investments in Quebec and stewardship investing, in the release.