The Caisse supports Couche-Tard's tender offer to acquire Casey's

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec announced today that it is part of a bank consortium that will provide US$1.5 billion to finance Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.’s tender offer to acquire the outstanding shares of common stock of Casey's General Stores Inc. The Caisse’s stake could add up to US$200 million to the commitment of the Canadian and international financial institution consortium, which also includes The Bank of Nova Scotia, HSBC Bank Canada and Rabobank Nederland.

“The Caisse is a longstanding partner of Couche-Tard,” said Normand Provost, Executive Vice-President, Private Equity and Chief Operations Officer. “We have participated in many company financings, including acquisitions. This investment is directly in line with our strategy of supporting successful Québec-based market leaders. The acquisition of Casey's enables Couche-Tard to consolidate its expansion into the U.S. market."

“In the past, Couche-Tard’s current leadership has demonstrated its ability to successfully complete many acquisitions of various sizes, both in Canada and the United States,” said Provost. “We have complete confidence in this management team. In past acquisitions, it has also shown a remarkable ability to create synergies and reduce debt.”

The Caisse aims to play a proactive leadership role in Québec businesses. This commitment, which is part of its mission, can be achieved by utilizing the institution’s comparative advantages—its unique ability to identify Québec companies with high potential, strong relationships with Québec companies, in-depth knowledge of Québec’s economic environment, extensive network of international partners to help Québec businesses expand overseas, ability to promote the financial participation of other domestic and foreign institutional investors in different investment projects and size and scope of activities that enable it to offer companies several different options tailored to their needs. Based on these advantages, the Caisse focuses on three main levers to achieve its mission: investment, partnerships and knowledge sharing.

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. At December 31, 2009, it held $131.6 billion of net assets. As one of the leading institutional fund managers in Canada, the Caisse invests in the main financial markets as well as in private equity and real estate.
For more information: www.cdpq.com.