{"id":294342,"date":"2026-02-16T17:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/294342\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T17:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:04:08","slug":"australian-funds-battle-canadian-pension-plans-for-saskatchewans-information-services-corp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/294342\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian funds battle Canadian pension plans for Saskatchewan\u2019s Information Services Corp."},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Melbourne-based infrastructure fund Plenary Group is working with the Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec on a possible ISC bid, sources say.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Two of Australia\u2019s largest institutional investors are challenging Canadian pension funds in the $1-billion bidding war for property registry Information Services Corp ISC-T<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Infrastructure-focused fund managers Queensland Investment Corp. (QIC) based in Brisbane, and Macquarie Asset Management, headquartered in Sydney, are in talks to acquire Regina-based ISC, one of the country\u2019s largest real estate data services, according to two sources familiar with the auction.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they are not permitted to speak for the companies. <\/p>\n

In addition, Melbourne-based infrastructure fund Plenary Group is working with the Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec on a possible ISC bid, said the sources. <\/p>\n

At least one other Canadian pension plan, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) is also bidding for ISC, the sources said. <\/p>\n

Toronto-based OMERS already owns land-registry Teranet, a business that is similar to ISC. Teranet runs property registers in Ontario and Manitoba while ISC covers Saskatchewan. OMERS bought Teranet in 2008 for $2-billion.<\/p>\n

OMERS review recommends rework of two-tiered governance structure<\/a><\/p>\n

Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec to buy Australia\u2019s Edify Energy<\/a><\/p>\n

ISC began a strategic review last fall after activist investor Plantro Ltd., run by entrepreneur Matthew Proud, launched a campaign that pushed for sale of the company. <\/p>\n

ISC and the fund managers declined to comment on the process. <\/p>\n

The institutional investors\u2018 bidding war for ISC, a digital infrastructure company, shows global fund managers are willing to commit significant capital to Canadian projects, a positive sign for federal and provincial governments attempting to fund billions of dollars\u2019 worth of infrastructure. <\/p>\n

The Saskatchewan government created ISC as a Crown corporation in 2000, then took it public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2013. <\/p>\n

ISC generates dependable cash flow from fees on real estate transactions, a business model that suits the long-term investment goals at pension plans and other institutional investors. <\/p>\n

ISC\u2019s largest shareholder is a provincial government agency, Crown Investments Corporation of Saskatchewan (CIC), which owns a 29.3-per-cent stake and supported the decision to launch a strategic review.<\/p>\n

CIC is willing to sell its ISC shares to potential bidders if it gets assurances the company\u2019s head office will remain in Regina, according to the sources. <\/p>\n

The Saskatchewan government wants to ensure the company\u2019s growth continues to benefit the province, factors that will play a role in determining a buyer, the sources said.<\/p>\n

RBC Capital Markets and law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP are running ISC\u2019s strategic review and are pushing bidders to offer at least $60 a share, which would value the company at $1.11-billion, one source said. CIBC Capital Markets is advising CIC. <\/p>\n

ISC\u2019s advisers have asked bidders to make their final offers. The bankers told the fund managers they want to conclude the strategic review by the end of March, with or without a sale of the company, the source said. <\/p>\n

On Friday, ISC shares closed at $44.13 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which translates into an $825-millon market capitalization. <\/p>\n

In 2023, ISC launched an expansion strategy aimed at doubling the size of the business by 2028. Earlier this month, ISC published financial guidance showing it was on track to achieve this goal. <\/p>\n

The company forecast revenues this year would be between $273-millon and $283-million. In 2025, ISC\u2019s guidance was for revenue of between $257-million and $267-million.<\/p>\n

ISC predicted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) would be $100-million to $107-million, compared to a range of $89-million to $97-million in 2025. <\/p>\n

Ex-Dye and Durham CEO Matt Proud under fire for \u2018abusive and coercive\u2019 bid for ISC stock<\/a><\/p>\n

ISC has successfully expanded from its roots as a property registry by building digital services that include the Irish Charities Regulator, which does registration and regulation of all charities that carry out activities in the European country. ISC won the Irish contract in 2017. <\/p>\n

Australian fund managers became global infrastructure investors in the 1990s, after the country\u2019s federal and state governments began selling publicly owned infrastructure such as airports and electric grids. These fund managers now own infrastructure all over the world. <\/p>\n

In 2024, QIC financed Porter Aviation Holdings Inc. as it developed a terminal at Montreal Metropolitan Airport. Macquarie has invested in Canadian data centres and pipelines. <\/p>\n

QIC has 131-billlion Australian dollars of assets under management, or C$126-billion of investments for its union pension plan clients. Macquarie oversees approximately 945-billion Australian dollars, or C$910-billion in assets. <\/p>\n

OMERS oversees $141-billion for Ontario workers, including fire fighters and police officer, while the Caisse has $496-billion of client assets under management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Melbourne-based infrastructure fund Plenary Group is working with the Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[246,229,247,220,218,248,114,245,217,236,237,232,219,216,184,243,242,235,268,227,259,221,222,234,85,46,230,231,224,249,225,254,255,257,252,256,250,253,266,267,223,240,241,238,239,251,228,125,244,233,226,126,258],"class_list":{"0":"post-294342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-finance","27":"tag-foreign-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","30":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","31":"tag-government","32":"tag-il","33":"tag-israel","34":"tag-life-news","35":"tag-lifestyle","36":"tag-local-news","37":"tag-manitoba","38":"tag-national-news","39":"tag-new-brunswick","40":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","41":"tag-northwest-territories","42":"tag-nova-scotia","43":"tag-nunavut","44":"tag-ontario","45":"tag-pei","46":"tag-personal-finance","47":"tag-personalfinance","48":"tag-photos","49":"tag-political-news","50":"tag-political-opinion","51":"tag-politics","52":"tag-politics-news","53":"tag-quebec","54":"tag-sports-news","55":"tag-technology","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}