Thursday, August 14, 2008

Ontario pension plan buying chunk of big Texas power distributor

One of Canada's biggest public pension plans has teamed up with a Singapore government fund to buy almost 20 per cent of the biggest electric transmission and distribution network in Texas.

The price: $1.25 billion US.

The buyers: the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, better known as OMERS, and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, or GIC, which seeks places to invest the country's foreign reserves.

The asset: a 19.75 per cent stake in Dallas-based Oncor Electric Delivery Co., which says it provides power to more than seven million Texans through more than 185,000 kilometres of transmission and distribution lines.

The seller: Energy Future Holdings Corp., also of Dallas.

Energy Future announced Wednesday that its has agreed to sell the stake, subject to regulatory approval.

The statement did not say what share each buyer would get. OMERS' vice-president of corporate communications, John Pierce, told CBC News that the 19.75 per cent will be split 50-50 between OMERS and GIC.

OMERS has assets of more than $50 billion Cdn and a need for places to invest. It is represented in the deal by its public works investment arm, Borealis Infrastructure Management, which has put chunks of the fund's money in a series of highly visible assets.

Among them:

The Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.Ontario's Bruce Power nuclear complex.The Detroit River Rail Tunnel between Windsor and Detroit.The Enwave project, which draws cold water from the depths of Lake Ontario to cool downtown Toronto buildings.The 10,000-seat coliseum at Toronto's Exhibition Place.Britain's biggest private port operator, Associated British Ports.

It is not the first time OMERS and GIC have worked together. Both bought pieces of the ports company in 2006.



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