Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan will acquire up to 100% of Esval SA, a public water and wastewater company in Chile, confirmed Debra Hanna, spokeswoman for the C$106 billion ($101 billion) fund. It will pay C$384 million to acquire the roughly 49% of the company held by bank and insurer Consorcio Financiero and other shareholders. The fund will also launch a public tender, required under Chilean securities law, for all the remaining shares. About 29% of these shares are owned by CORFO, a government agency.
“We like these companies for a number of reasons,” said Jim Leech, senior vice president of Teachers’ Private Capital, the pension plan’s private investment arm, in a news release. “They are regional monopolies with exclusive rights to operate in their geographic area; they provide stable, low-risk returns; and they have a very long economic shelf life consistent with our long-term investment goals.”
The combined value of the fund’s investments in infrastructure, timber and private equity is approximately $16 billion.
