Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec increases investments in publicly traded Quebec companies

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec announced today that it has increased its investments in publicly traded Québec companies by more than $800 million. As a major institutional investor in Québec, the Caisse elected to rely even more on its comparative advantage in proximity and in-depth knowledge of the Québec market.

“When it comes to investing in Québec, the Caisse has an undeniable comparative advantage vis-à-vis its peers: close long-term relationships with the vast majority of companies and an excellent knowledge of the challenges they are facing,” said Mr. Jean-Luc Gravel, Executive Vice-President, Equity Markets. “This comparative advantage has led us to target the Québec market, which holds many promising companies, to generate returns while contributing to Québec’s economic development. We believe the two go hand in hand.”

“One of our priorities at the Caisse is to assist Quebec companies with great growth potential here and abroad by sharing our expertise and resources with them,” added Mr. Gravel. “The increase in our investments in such companies will help us achieve this objective.”

The Caisse has also integrated the new National Bank Quebec Index^TM, dedicated exclusively to Québec-based companies, into its reference index for the Canadian Equity portfolio. The latter is now considered much more representative of the composition of the portfolio and better reflects Québec’s weight in the Canadian economy, which is about 20%, compared with the S&P/TSX weighting of approximately 10%.

The reference index for the Canadian Equity portfolio will be based for 90% on the S&P/TSX index and 10% on the new National Bank Quebec Index^TM.
 

ABOUT THE CAISSE DE DÉPÔT ET PLACEMENT DU QUÉBEC
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is a financial institution that manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2010, it held $151.7 billion in net assets. As one of Canada’s leading institutional fund managers, the Caisse invests in major financial markets, private equity and real estate. For more information : www.cdpq.com.