Quebecor in $1.5B deal
Quebecor Inc. agreed to pay $1.5 billion to Canada’s second-biggest pension fund manager to increase its control of media and wireless assets in Frenchspeaking Quebec, where it
competes with BCE Inc. Quebecor Media Inc. will
buy about 20.4 million of
its own shares held by the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec for about $1 billion. Montreal-based Quebecor will also purchase 10.2 million shares of Quebecor Media held by the pension fund for about $500 million, according to a statement Wednesday. The transaction will lift Quebecor’s stake in Quebecor Media to 75.4 per cent from 54.7 per cent. The Caisse’s stake will be cut to 24.6 per cent from 45.3 per cent.
“Our intention was to take advantage of the window of opportunity created by the favourable conditions on the debt markets
to increase our interest in
Quebecor Media,” Pierre
Karl Peladeau, chief executive of Quebecor and Quebecor Media, said.
Increasing its stake in Quebecor Media gives Que
becor greater control over 43 daily newspapers, the cable-television and wire
less business Videotron, broadcaster TVA, and the Canoe portal of English- and French-language Internet
sites.
That gives it more ammu
nition against BCE, also based in Montreal.