Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec completes a US$250 million investment in TIAA-CREF Global Agriculture

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (Caisse) completed an investment of US$250M in TIAA-CREF Global Agriculture LLC, a new company comprised of several international institutional investors, with $2 billion in commitments to invest in farmland in the United States, Australia and Brazil. The company began investing capital in April 2011 and includes AP2, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC), the Caisse and other like-minded institutions. TIAA has a significant stake in the company, and an affiliate of TIAA, Teachers Advisors, Inc., serves as the manager. In the words of Normand Provost, Caisse Executive Vice-President, Private Equity, “This investment marks the Caisse’s entry into an emerging asset class, which will facilitate its exposure to the global demand for agricultural products. Farmland presents a risk-return profile that meets our depositors’ objectives and that offers portfolio diversification. The group of investors, which includes the Caisse, shares the same long-term vision and the platform of the partners, with TIAA-CREF, aims to be sustainable, accountable and collaborative. By joining forces with TIAA-CREF, we can count on a quality partner with whom our interests are fully aligned. Caisse was represented in-house by Robert Côté, Vice-President, Legal Affairs – Private Placements, by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP with a team that included Daniel Picotte (corporate), Jonathan Halwagi (investment funds) and Alain Ranger (tax).