{"id":554879,"date":"2026-03-30T21:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/554879\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:06:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:06:23","slug":"two-pension-plans-still-in-bidding-for-saskatchewan-property-data-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/554879\/","title":{"rendered":"Two pension plans still in bidding for Saskatchewan property data company"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two domestic pension funds have made the final round of bidders for Regina-based property registry Information Services Corp. ISC-T<\/a> in an auction where support for the Saskatchewan economy is as important as offering the highest price. <\/p>\n

Plenary Americas, an infrastructure investment arm of the Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec, and the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System are expected to make offers for ISC ahead of an April 1 deadline, according to two sources with knowledge of the process. <\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they are not permitted to speak for the companies. Spokespersons for ISC, Plenary Group and OMERS declined to comment. <\/p>\n

Toronto-based OMERS is bidding on a business it knows well. It is the owner of Teranet, which runs property registries in Ontario and Manitoba while ISC covers Saskatchewan. OMERS bought Teranet in 2008 for $2-billion.<\/p>\n

In September, the ISC board launched a strategic review that included potential sale of the company after facing an activist campaign. <\/p>\n

The conclusion of that review is expected to see the two fund managers make offers in the low $50-a-share range, the sources said, which would value the company at more than $935-million. <\/p>\n

Australian funds battle Canadian pension plans for Saskatchewan\u2019s Information Services Corp.<\/a><\/p>\n

A takeover at this price would be slightly below expectations set last fall and earlier this year, when residential real estate and stock markets were more buoyant and investment bankers predicted the ISC could fetch up to $60 a share. <\/p>\n

An offer for ISC for more than $50 a share would represent a 40-per-cent plus premium to the company\u2019s share price when the board announced the review.<\/p>\n

On Friday, ISC shares closed at $46.90 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. <\/p>\n

The government of Saskatchewan took ISC public in 2013 at $14 a share. The company has successfully added new businesses such as running lottery technology to its property data division. <\/p>\n

In 2023, ISC launched an expansion strategy aimed at doubling the size of the business by 2028. The company is on track to achieve that goal. Institutional investors such as Plenary and OMERS view the company as digital infrastructure, with the ability to generate reliable profits and expand into new sectors. <\/p>\n

ISC\u2019s largest shareholder is a provincial agency, Crown Investments Corp. of Saskatchewan, with a 29-per-cent stake. Earlier this month, analyst Paul Treiber at RBC Capital Markets said in a report the provincial government and Crown Investments have made it clear they will only approve a transaction that \u201cprotects the province\u2019s best interests and Saskatchewan jobs.\u201d <\/p>\n

Data company ISC receives four preliminary takeover offers<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the return on the shares will be dependent on the outcome of the strategic review,\u201d Mr. Treiber said. If no takeover offer emerges, Mr. Treiber\u2019s target share price at ISC is $39, while his \u201cupside scenario\u201d is a price of $53.<\/p>\n

Throughout what is now a six-month sales process, numerous potential bidders and their advisers said Crown Investments executives have stipulated that ISC must maintain a well-staffed head office in Regina. <\/p>\n

At least three institutional investors, including Australian funds Queensland Investment Corp. and Macquarie Asset Management, have dropped out of the bidding for ISC, the sources said.<\/p>\n

The ISC board may decide to end the strategic review without announcing the sale of the company, the sources said. However, in the past two years, boards and shareholders have signed off on the sale of numerous publicly listed infrastructure companies to pension plans. <\/p>\n

Last week, Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and the Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec teamed up to buy renewable power producer Boralex Inc. for $3.8-billion. Last year, the Caisse acquired one of Boralex\u2019s peers, Innergex Renewable Energy Inc., in a deal worth $10-billion<\/a> including assumed debt. <\/p>\n

RBC Capital Markets and law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP are running ISC\u2019s strategic review.<\/p>\n

CIBC Capital Markets is advising Crown Investments. The provincial agency\u2019s decision to hire investment bankers to represent its interests suggests the Saskatchewan government is deeply involved in the sales process.<\/p>\n

OMERS has $145-billon in assets, with $41-billion invested in infrastructure. The Montreal-based Caisse is one of the country\u2019s largest fund managers, with $517-billion of client assets under management and $75-billion of infrastructure investments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two domestic pension funds have made the final round of bidders for Regina-based property registry Information Services Corp.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2428,2416,2429,4,2408,2430,28,103,2407,2422,2423,2418,2409,2406,101,526,192,2421,2414,2441,2410,2411,2420,2417,149,983,2431,2413,2436,2437,2439,2434,2438,2432,2435,147,530,2412,2425,2426,111,2424,2433,2415,74,2427,2419,194,965,2440],"class_list":["post-554879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}