The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has come out in support of the London Stock Exchange takeover of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Globe and Mail reports that the OTPP says the ‘merger’ may lead to lower costs for big traders of stocks and derivatives, help Canadian companies access lower-cost capital, and that it’s important for Canada not to appear closed to foreign investment.
The news article notes that the OTPP says, “Canadian firms should benefit from a deeper pool of investors, attracting greater capital from Europe and the Middle East, which should lower the cost of capital and help boost share values of Canadian firms. As a major international investor, Teachers’ is concerned that should Canadian governments treat foreign investors less favourably than domestic investors, it will be viewed by other countries as parochial at best, and at worst as protectionist; and we may lose access to foreign investment opportunities on behalf of our beneficiaries, Ontario’s teachers.”
The Wall Street Journal adds, “The pension plan said approval of the deal should ensure that publicly traded companies in Canada remain subject to Canadian regulatory oversight.”
The Council of Canadians opposes the takeover of the TMX Group by the London Stock Exchange.
ALSO, last weekend the CBC reported that, “the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan announced…that it will explore the possibility of selling its 66 per cent majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. The company controls the Maple Leafs, NBA’s Toronto Raptors, the Toronto FC soccer franchise and the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. It also owns the Air Canada Centre.” The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan also owns 50.83 percent of the Chilean water utility Essbio and 69.4 percent of Esval. The Council of Canadians has been calling on the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan to divest from for-profit water utilities in Chile and for the ownership of these private, for-profit water utilities to be fully transferred back to public control.
Business News Americas has reported that, “President Sebastian Piñera announced in December that state development agency Corfo would sell its minority stake in utilities Aguas Andinas, Essbio, Esval and Essal (in other words fully privatize these water utilities) to fund the reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by the February 2010 earthquake.” There is no word yet if the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan intends to increase its ownership share of these water utlities.
A series of campaign blogs on the OTPP’s ownership of Chilean water utilities can be read at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?s=%22Ontario+teachers%22.
