The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is considering selling part of its stake in the utility Puget Energy Inc., Bloomberg News reported. The investment group is working with an adviser to reduce its 31.6% stake by about 10 percentage points. The sale is expected to fetch $700 million, valuing Puget Energy at up to $7 billion, including debt. CPPIB was part of a group that took Puget private in 2009, alongside Macquarie Group Ltd., British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and Alberta Investment Management Corp., according to a statement on its website.
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Brazil on Thursday ditched a trade complaint against Canada over aircraft subsidies and called for wider negotiations between all aircraft producing nations to halt a slide toward aircraft trade wars, sidestepping the World Trade Organization, Reuters reported. The abrupt move by Brazil, home to the world’s third largest planemaker Embraer, comes as larger rivals Airbus and Boeing remain locked in a 16-year-old fight at the WTO that led to tit-for-tat transatlantic tariffs.
The COVID pandemic has added $24 trillion to the global debt mountain over the last year a new study has shown, leaving it at a record $281 trillion and the worldwide debt-to-GDP ratio at over 355%, Reuters reported. The Institute of International Finance’s global debt monitor estimated government support programmes had accounted for half of the rise, while global firms, banks and households added $5.4 trillion, 3.9 trillion and $2.6 trillion respectively.
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Canada’s annual inflation rate accelerated more than expected in January, data from Statistics Canada showed on Wednesday, and could continue to rise in coming months compared with the low levels reached a year ago during the first COVID-19 lockdowns, Reuters reported. Canada’s inflation rate accelerated to 1.0% in January on higher durable good and gasoline prices, up from a year-on-year increase of 0.7% in December, and beating analyst expectations of 0.9%.
Ontario's post-secondary minister says an investigator probing the financial problems at Laurentian University will issue a final report in six to eight weeks, the CBC reported. The northern Ontario school filed for creditor protection earlier this month amid what it called "unprecedented" challenges after a decade of financial strain. The Sault Ste. Marie MPP and Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Ross Romano, says the report will help the government decide next steps when it comes to the university.
Canadian insolvency filings hit a 20-year low last year as government financial support offset the shock and economic uncertainty caused by Covid-19, Advisor's Edge reported. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy said on Friday that there were 99,244 consumer bankruptcies and proposals along with business bankruptcies in 2020, down 30% from the prior year.
Laurentian University owes three Canadian banks C$91 million ($71 million), according to documents in a bankruptcy filing that one analyst says will be a test case for how the country’s schools deal with growing financial pressures, Bloomberg News reported. The Sudbury, Ontario-based university requested court protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on Monday, citing widening deficits, declining enrollment and costs related to the pandemic.
Mexico’s government plans to seek more than $500 million from Canadian miner First Majestic Silver Corp in what it says are owed taxes for artificially keeping its silver prices low over the past decade, two sources told Reuters. Audits dating back to 2010 show that the company owes about 11 billion pesos ($534.36 million), the sources said. So far, Mexico’s Tax Administration Service, or SAT, has sought 5.5 billion pesos ($267.18 million) in tax debt, with the remaining half of the total yet to enter into formal disputes, according to the sources.
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The largest shareholder in high-end mall owner Macerich Co. sold its entire holding for nearly $500 million when the stock soared after being touted on Reddit, Bloomberg News reported. Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan sold 24.56 million shares on Wednesday at an average price of $20.25 a share, according to details in an amended 13D. The Canadian fund had owned 16.4% of the company, according to data complied by Bloomberg.
American affiliates of Canadian restaurant business Yatsen Group sought Chapter 15 recognition in Delaware bankruptcy court, saying COVID-19 has ravaged its business and left its locations unable to pay rent, Law360 reported. Yatsen Group of Companies Inc., SAR Real Estate Inc. and 36 affiliates filed their petition late Monday, while a foreign, main case proceeds in Canada.