For the second time in two weeks, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec sold several hundred million dollars worth of shares in a large Quebec company.
After selling $600 million in WSP shares in mid-May, the Caisse is now selling $400 million worth of CGI shares.
The Caisse thus raised a billion dollars by carrying out transactions on two of the largest Quebec companies listed on the stock exchange of which it is the largest institutional shareholder.
In both the case of CGI and WSP, Caisse management justifies its decision to sell shares by “periodic rebalancing” of its portfolio.
La Caisse sells a little more than 2.8 million Class A shares of CGI at a unit price of $138.51, the equivalent of a discount of 3% compared to the closing price recorded Monday on the Stock Exchange. Toronto. The management of the IT services company has reached an agreement with the Caisse to repurchase this large block of shares for cancellation purposes.
The Caisse also sold $400 million worth of CGI shares in February last year. And on this occasion, the Montreal fintech also bought back the block of shares for cancellation purposes.
Despite these sales, the Caisse de dépôt will still remain CGI’s largest institutional shareholder with a stake of approximately 7%.
CGI stock hit a high of $160 in March, but has been falling since early spring.
“As an international leader in the field of information technology, CGI continues to distinguish itself through sustained growth and operational excellence that benefit its shareholders,” underlines Kim Thomassin, Senior Vice-President and Head, Quebec at the CDPQ, by press release.
When selling WSP shares two weeks ago, Kim Thomassin said he wanted to monetize part of the Caisse’s investment, while remaining the largest shareholder of the Montreal engineering firm.
With still 15.8% of WSP shares, the Caisse remains the company’s largest shareholder.
“Having invested nearly a billion dollars since 2011 in WSP, CPDQ has supported the company during major acquisitions so that it can become one of the world champions in its industry,” Kim Thomassin then underlined.
She also affirmed that the capital recovered by selling shares could be reinvested in various Quebec companies, including WSP, in order to “support growth”.
WSP’s stock hit an all-time high of $230 in March before also falling back to its current level of around $210.