Tausi Insider

Canadian pension giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is raising its bet on construction company Pomerleau as the privately held builder pushes out from its home market in a bid to grab a bigger share of the country’s infrastructure spending pie. The Caisse is making a new $150-million equity investment in Saint-Georges, Que.-based Pomerleau to support its pan-Canadian growth plan, the two companies said in a statement Wednesday. Some of the money will be used to fund Pomerleau’s recently announced takeover of Vancouver-based ITC Construction Group, known for building dozens of residential towers making up the skylines in western cities such as Vancouver and Calgary. A portion will also be earmarked for other growth efforts as Pomerleau seeks to expand its work force of 4,000 employees and add to its current $4-billion in annual revenue. The new funds come on top of $50-million the Caisse injected into the company in 2018, bringing its total equity investment to $200-million ...

Caisse de Depot et Placement president Charles Emond ponders a question at legislature committee on finances on Aug. 17, 2020 at the legislature in Quebec City. Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press It’s time for Quebec’s pension giant to tell all about its botched investment in Celsius Network. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has previously portrayed its funding of the New Jersey-based cryptocurrency lender as an investing mistake, with chief executive officer Charles Emond suggesting the pension-fund manager bought into the business too soon. Now, however, New York Attorney-General Letitia James is suing Alex Mashinsky , former CEO and co-founder of Celsius Network, for defrauding investors by making a litany of false statements, concealing the company’s “dire financial condition” and breaking securities laws in a slew of U.S. states. It’s an eye-popping list of allegations. Sure, none has been tested in court. But with more details emerging about the comical claims that ...