Some Canadian pension funds have recently engaged in large transactions involving infrastructure assets in India and Brazil.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Toronto, made a follow-on investment of up to C$532 million ($392 million) in Brazilian water and sanitation company Igua Saneamento. The additional investment will support what is expected to be a period of transformational growth for the company after it was awarded a major concession contract in the Brazilian state of Sergipe, said a Sept. 10 news release.
The Sergipe concession will provide water distribution, and sewage collection and treatment services to 74 municipalities across the northeastern Brazilian state.
CPP Investments, which has C$646.8 billion in assets, first invested in Igua in 2021 as a platform for further investments in Brazil’s water and sanitation sector and holds — excluding this additional investment — about 61.4% of the company.
Meanwhile, Data Infrastructure Trust, an infrastructure investment trust sponsored by alternative asset firm Brookfield Asset Management, along with affiliates of investors including the C$250.4 billion pension fund British Columbia Investment Management Corp., Victoria, and $770 billion Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC acquired 100% of the Indian operations of American Tower for an enterprise value of 182 billion Indian rupees ($2.2 billion).
American Tower is a Boston-based real estate investment trust that owns, develops and operates wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure across the world.
The transaction involved the buyout of about 76,000 communications sites in India, said a Sept. 12 news release.
This deal marked Brookfield’s third acquisition in the Indian telecommunications industry. In 2022, Brookfield acquired a portfolio of 6,300 indoor business solution sites and small cell phone towers, which advances the rollout of 5G and enables telecom operators to extend their coverage capacity in difficult-to-access and dense areas in India. In 2020, Brookfield acquired a portfolio of about 175,000 towers from Indian firm Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings.
In India itself, Brookfield has about $29 billion in assets under management across the infrastructure, real estate, renewable power and transition, and private equity sectors.
A BCI spokesperson declined to disclose additional financial details related to the deal but confirmed that BCI is a “significant" minority investor. BCI’s worldwide infrastructure and renewable resources program is valued at about C$28.1 billion.
Separately, on Sept. 10, the C$133.6 billion Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, Toronto, said it signed an agreement with Allianz Capital Partners to acquire ACP’s 13.5% stake in Interise Trust, an Indian infrastructure investment trust that holds a diversified portfolio of 17 operational road concessions across eight states in India.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close at end of the year, subject to certain customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
ACP is a unit of Allianz Global Investors, which has a total of €555 billion ($615.2 billion) in assets under management.
Upon completion of the transaction, OMERS' stake in Interise Trust will increase to 34.8% from its current 21.3%.
However, CPP Investments will remain the largest investor in Interise Trust, with the remaining stakes held by domestic investors in India. A CPP Investments spokesperson confirmed the pension fund holds a 60.8% stake in Interise.
OMERS initially bought a stake in Interise Trust, formerly known as IndInfravit Trust, in 2019, for C$160 million.
