Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Montreal, on Thursday launched a subsidiary to implement an agreement reached earlier this year with Quebec’s government to develop and manage provincial infrastructure assets.
The new subsidiary, CDPQ Infra, will begin managing two public transportation projects in Montreal — a transit system on the Champlain Bridge and one connecting the city with Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and the West Island.
Assets have not been assigned to CDPQ Infra, said Maxime Chagnon, Caisse spokesman. “We’re very early to be doing that,” he said. “We first have to analyze the projects and look at them very carefully before we proceed.”
Michael Sabia, the Caisse’s president and CEO, will be chairman of CDPQ Infra, and Macky Tall, senior vice president, infrastructure, will be the subsidiary’s president and managing director. They will retain their Caisse positions.
The agreement between the Caisse and the province was announced Jan. 13; other projects will be identified over time by the Quebec government, and the Caisse will be responsible for their development, financing and operation. Mr. Chagnon said the focus originally will be on the two public transit projects, but “our ambition is to go broader than that, both in Quebec and in Canada, and elsewhere.”
The Caisse managed C$225.9 billion ($183.3 billion) in assets for public pension and other provincial funds as of Dec. 31, including C$11 billion in infrastructure investments.