Montreal-based energy transition investment firm MacKinnon Bennett & Co. (MKB) is raising $145 million from institutional investors, including the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Investissement Québec, the government’s financial arm. The funds will be invested in growing green companies.
On Thursday, four partners from the Quebec and Canadian financial ecosystem announced their financial support for the Montreal investment company, which is launching the new MKB III Partners fund, whose mission is to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions” in its main sectors of activity: clean energy, mobility, the built environment and the industrial sector.
The Canada Growth Fund is injecting $50 million into MKB’s new fund. CDPQ and Investissement Québec are each investing $35 million. BDC Capital, for its part, is investing $25 million.
These sums will be intended “to support the development of innovative and fast-growing companies, mainly in North America,” the four investors emphasize in a joint press release. “The fund will target companies in the growth phase that market innovative and proven technologies,” they add.
MKB is a shareholder in some well-known companies. Its portfolio includes the Quebec car-sharing company Communauto, present in Canada and France, as well as the Quebec manufacturer of electric vehicle charging stations FLO.
At DutyCDPQ’s Senior Vice President and Head of Quebec Investments and Sustainable Investment, Kim Thomassin, emphasizes that the investment in MKB’s new fund is “part of the Caisse’s commitment to supporting local financial expertise and stimulating the growth of the asset management industry in Quebec.”
Over the next four years, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec “wants to more than double the amounts entrusted to various local fund managers,” she adds.