CDPQ buys 20% stake in Plenary's Australia business

Plenary will issue new shares to CDPQ for an investment of an undisclosed amount, intended to support its participation in future projects. The company has helped develop several prominent Australian landmarks, including the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

The Cancer Centre is one of several projects on which CDPQ and Plenary have already partnered. CDPQ has contributed a total of A$200 million ($154 million) since 2012 to various Plenary-originated projects in Australia.

"CDPQ has a close relationship with Plenary and has appreciated first-hand its robust business model and leading position in Australia, which has been a priority market for CDPQ over the past five years," Macky Tall, executive vice-president for infrastructure at CDPQ, said in a statement. "Given the scale of Australia's infrastructure opportunities, this partnership will enable us to identify the best projects to generate stable and predictable returns over the long term."

Along with its partnerships with Plenary, CDPQ has been an active figure in Australian infrastructure investments. Last year it featured in a consortium that paid A$10.26 billion for TransGrid, the New South Wales government electricity transmission network; CDPQ took a 25% stake in the company. Another notable deal in 2013 saw CDPQ buy a 26.7% stake in the Port of Brisbane from Global Infrastructure Partners.

CDPQ is a long-term institutional investor that primarily manages funds for public pension and insurance plans. It held C$248 billion ($190 billion) in assets worldwide as of December 2015, investing in global financial markets, private equity, infrastructure and real estate.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• North America
• Infrastructure
• LPs
• Australia
• Canada