Pension Pulse

Adam McCleery of Food & Beverage reports Casella and Southern Premium Vineyards agree to long-term strategic partnership: Southern Premium Vineyards (SPV), the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) platform that owns Australian vineyards, and Casella Family Brands (Casella) have announced they have entered into a long-term strategic partnership under which SPV will acquire a number of vineyards from Casella. The partnership covers vineyards totalling 7,215 hectares across 35 properties in South Australia and New South Wales, with associated water entitlements, plant and equipment. SPV, which currently owns 460 hectares of vineyards in the Coonawarra and Barossa Valley regions of South Australia, has also entered into a long-term grape supply agreement with Casella. Under the terms of the partnership with Casella, SPV will take on management of the vineyards and all associated employees. “We are pleased to be entering this partnership with SP...

Jan-Henrik Foerster of Bloomberg reports EQT in talks to take over €1.4 billion calibration firm Trescal: Private equity firm EQT AB is in exclusive talks to buy a majority stake in French calibration company Trescal from Canadian pension fund Omers. EQT’s infrastructure arm is expected to close the proposed acquisition in the first quarter of next year, Omers Private Equity said in a statement Monday. The transaction is set to value Trescal at around €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) including debt, people with knowledge of the matter said. Omers plans to reinvest for a 25% stake in Trescal, according to the statement, which didn’t disclose financial details. Trescal, led by Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Caroit, calibrates measuring instruments for the aerospace, energy and automotive industries. Omers bought Trescal from French private equity firm Ardian SAS in 2018. The company has since doubled in size, completing 47 acquisitions and entering industries like life science...

Jameson Berkow of the Globe and Mail reports Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan pays $2.4-billion for stake in Scottish transmission line company: Two major Canadian investments announced Friday have refocused attention on an often overlooked sector seen as crucial for the low-carbon energy transition: distribution. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan said Friday it will pay £1.47-billion ($2.4-billion) for a 25-per-cent stake in SSEN Transmission, a division of Scotland-based SSE PLC, which delivers hydroelectric power from northern Scotland to the rest of Britain. The deal represents the pension plan’s largest-ever power distribution investment. Separately on Friday, the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce announced they have committed $135-million each in funding for Markham District Energy, which provides centralized heating and cooling for 230 buildings north of Toronto. Together, the deals indicate a growing level of investor interest in the ba...