By Ben Dummett
TORONTO--Canadian pension giant Caisse de Depot et placement du
Quebec Friday said it acquired a stake in a big U.K. offshore wind
farm from Danish energy company DONG Energy A/S for 644 million
pounds ($1.06 billion).
The investment underscores Canadian pension funds' continued
interest in global infrastructure assets such as toll roads,
bridges and utility operators, which generate steady income to help
the funds meet their long-term pension liabilities. Quebec-based
Caisse de Depot is Canada's second-largest pension fund as measured
by assets.
The transaction comes on the same day two other Canadian pension
funds announced infrastructure deals. Ontario Municipal Employees
Retirement System bought a stake in Ontario's Bruce Power nuclear
plant from Canadian uranium producer Cameco Corp. for 450 million
Canadian dollars ($403 million), increasing its stake in the power
generator to 56.1%. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the
country's biggest pension fund, invested $200 million for a 10.4%
stake in Transportadora de Gas del Perú S.A., Peru's largest
natural gas pipeline operator.
Caisse de Depot is acquiring half of DONG Energy's 50% stake in
the 630-megawatt London Array 1 offshore wind farm, which London
Array says is the largest of its kind in the world. The Array
project's 175 turbines are capable of generating energy to power
almost 500,000 U.K. homes, according to London Array's website.
Caisse de Depot, which oversees almost C$186 billion in assets,
is betting that growing global pressure to reduce harmful carbon
emissions will drive demand for wind energy and other alternative
energy sources.
The deal "is an opportunity for us to invest...in a
growth-driven sector, " Macky Tall, head of infrastructure
investment for the fund, said in a statement. "We are investing in
this project with a long-term horizon," he said.
Write to Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com