CPPIB, Caisse de dépôt invest as partners in O2 deal
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec are teaming up with other institutional investors to buy a combined 33 per cent stake in Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s British mobile phone business.
CPPIB said it is investing about $2-billion for a 12 per cent stake in the entity to be created by merging O2 U.K. and Three UK. Mr. Li’s Hutchison Whampoa plans to acquire O2 – Britain’s second-largest mobile operator – and merge it with its own mobile company, Three.
Total value of the 33 per cent interest being bought by CPPIB, the Caisse, GIC of Singapore, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority subsidiary Limpart Holdings Ltd. and BTG Pactual of Brazil is about $4.7-billion (U.S.).
Hutchison Whampoa struck an agreement in March with Telefonica SA of Spain to buy its British subsidiary, O2 U.K. for about $15.4-billion. The newly formed entity would own about 40 per cent of the British mobile market and the deal is subject to scrutiny by the EU competition regulator.
“This is an exceptional opportunity to acquire a meaningful stake in what will become a leading mobile operator in the U.K., giving us immediate scale in an important sector,” CPPIB senior managing director and global head of private investments Mark Jenkins said.
The Caisse did not disclose its share of the stake in the new entity.
The CPPIB investment is expected to close next year.
CPPIB said it is investing about $2-billion for a 12 per cent stake in the entity to be created by merging O2 U.K. and Three UK. Mr. Li’s Hutchison Whampoa plans to acquire O2 – Britain’s second-largest mobile operator – and merge it with its own mobile company, Three.
Total value of the 33 per cent interest being bought by CPPIB, the Caisse, GIC of Singapore, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority subsidiary Limpart Holdings Ltd. and BTG Pactual of Brazil is about $4.7-billion (U.S.).
Hutchison Whampoa struck an agreement in March with Telefonica SA of Spain to buy its British subsidiary, O2 U.K. for about $15.4-billion. The newly formed entity would own about 40 per cent of the British mobile market and the deal is subject to scrutiny by the EU competition regulator.
“This is an exceptional opportunity to acquire a meaningful stake in what will become a leading mobile operator in the U.K., giving us immediate scale in an important sector,” CPPIB senior managing director and global head of private investments Mark Jenkins said.
The Caisse did not disclose its share of the stake in the new entity.
The CPPIB investment is expected to close next year.
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