Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Montreal, and Manulife Financial reached agreement to build a new home for the combined staff of Manulife and Standard Life Investments' Canadian operations, which Manulife is acquiring.
Caisse, through its Ivanhoe Cambridge real estate subsidiary, made a C$200 million (US$180 million) pact with Manulife to develop, own and manage the 900 de Maisonneuve West office project, a 27-story building in downtown Montreal that will house the combined staff of Manulife and Standard Life based in Quebec's largest city. Eleven floors will be leased to Manulife as part of the agreement.
Construction will begin in the first quarter.
The agreement is contingent on Canadian regulatory and Standard Life shareholder approval of Manulife's C$4 billion acquisition of the Standard Life business, said Sebastien Theberge, Ivanhoe Cambridge spokesman.
Caisse, which manages C$214.7 billion in assets for Quebec public pension and other provincial funds, has a combined stake of more than C$1 billion in Manulife.
