Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan's latest investment is a wash.
The C$140.8 billion (US$125.5 billion) pension fund acquired a 30% stake in CSC ServiceWorks, Plainview, N.Y., which leases coin-operated laundry machines and gas station tire pumps throughout North America and Europe. The stake was bought from private equity manager Pamplona Capital Management by Teachers' Private Capital, the Toronto-based pension fund's private equity subsidiary. Terms were not disclosed; the deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
CSC ServiceWorks is the latest in a set of wide-ranging investments by Teachers' Private Capital. In June, TPC acquired a 50% stake in Flynn Restaurant Group, a San Francisco-based franchiser of U.S. Applebee's and Taco Bell restaurants; and last November it bought a majority stake in Busy Bees Nurseries, Burntwood, England, which operates 213 child-care facilities in the U.K.
Deborah Allan, spokeswoman for Ontario Teachers, said Teachers' Private Capital doesn't choose such a seemingly eclectic mix of investments at random. “As interesting as that looks, we develop industry-sector expertise among four main groups — industrials and energy; financial services; health care and consumer retail; and technology, media and communications — and then choose what we think are the best investments.”
Teachers' Private Capital had C$14.8 billion in assets under management as of Dec. 31. Its portfolio returned 26.9% in 2013, according to the pension fund's website.
