Ontario Teachers’ sells minority stake in Brussels Airport to investment partners
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’) has sold a minority interest of its indirect stake in Brussels Airport to each of TCorp and GPIF (through a StepStone managed vehicle). Ontario Teachers' will remain the largest individual shareholder in Brussels Airport.
Ontario Teachers' is Canada's largest single-profession pension plan. TCorp is the financial services provider to the New South Wales public sector in Australia and GPIF manages and invests Japan’s pension reserve fund.
"As a leading infrastructure investor with a global mandate, part of our strategy is to establish and deepen relationships with like-minded partners who bring new ideas, capital and expertise to the table. We look forward to working with our new co-investors in what is truly one of the premier capital city airports in Europe and a centre of economic activity in Belgium," said Dale Burgess, Senior Managing Director, Infrastructure and Natural Resources at Ontario Teachers'. “Under the new shareholder structure we will continue to focus on creating long-term value for all stakeholders including the 26 million passengers who fly through Brussels Airport every year."
Ontario Teachers' is the largest private investor in airports in Europe, with holdings in five freehold airports: Copenhagen Airport, Brussels Airport, Bristol Airport, Birmingham Airport and London City Airport. Ontario Teachers' has been an investor in Brussels Airport since 2011.
Stewart Brentnall, Chief Investment Officer of TCorp, said “we are delighted to invest with Ontario Teachers again. This further cements our investment partnership following our 2017 investment in Bristol and Birmingham Airports with like-minded, sophisticated investors. We share, and are committed to, common objectives, values and investment horizons. This transaction allows us to expand our global infrastructure investments, further diversify risk and provide consistent, sustainable returns over the long term.” James O’Leary, Head of StepStone Infrastructure & Real Assets, said “making a co-investment on behalf of GPIF, alongside Ontario Teachers and TCorp, is very appealing, and consistent with our model of partnering with leading investors around the world. As a responsible investor, the opportunity to co-invest in a long term, sustainable infrastructure asset in a quality market such as Belgium is very attractive. This is supported further by Ontario Teachers’ long pre-existing ownership of the asset."
About Ontario Teachers'
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’) is Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan, with $201.4 billion in net assets at June 30, 2019. It holds a diverse global portfolio of assets, approximately 80% of which is managed in-house, and has earned an annual total-fund net return of 9.7% since the plan’s founding in 1990 (all figures as at Dec. 31, 2018 unless noted). Ontario Teachers’ is an independent organization headquartered in Toronto. Its Asia-Pacific region office is located in Hong Kong and its Europe, Middle East & Africa region office is in London. The defined-benefit plan, which is fully funded, invests and administers the pensions of the province of Ontario’s 327,000 active and retired teachers. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on Twitter @OtppInfo.
About TCorp
TCorp provides best-in-class investment management, financial management, solutions and advice to the New South Wales (NSW) public sector. With A$107 billion of funds under management, TCorp is a top five Australian asset manager and is the central borrowing authority of the state of NSW, with a balance sheet of A$75 billion. For more information, visit www.tcorp.nsw.gov.au and follow us on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/tcorp-nswtreasurycorporation
About GPIF
The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) manages and invests Japan’s pension reserve fund and is the largest pension fund in the world. GPIF’s goal is to contribute to the stability of the pension scheme by investing the pension reserve in capital markets in Japan and overseas, with returns distributed to the government. GPIF is focused on long-term, diversified investments and had assets under management of ¥162 trillion as at June 2019. GPIF has given StepStone a discretionary investment mandate to focus on long term infrastructure assets as part of its overall investment programme.
About StepStone Infrastructure & Real Assets
StepStone Infrastructure & Real Assets ("SIRA") is part of StepStone Group, a global private markets investment firm providing solutions for the world’s most sophisticated investors using a highly disciplined research-focused approach that prudently integrates fund investments, secondaries, and co-investments. With more than $280 billion of total capital allocations as of September 30, 2019, including $58 billion in assets under management, StepStone covers a broad spectrum of opportunities in private markets across the globe from its 19 offices in 13 countries. As of September 30, 2019, SIRA managed or advised on more than $29 billion of private capital allocations and is one of the most active infrastructure investors globally, focused on supporting investors at all stages of their investment programs. For more information, please visit www.stepstoneglobal.com.
Media Contacts:
Ontario Teachers’
Oliver Mann
Kekst CNC
Phone: +44 203 7551 607
otpp@kekstcnc.com
TCorp
Sonja Lee
Head of Marketing
Tel: +61 2 9325 9211
sonja.lee@tcorp.nsw.gov.au
StepStone
Caroline Luz
Blicksilver Public Relations
+1 203 656 2829
caroline@blicksilverpr.com