La Caisse invests €100 million in SPIE and contributes to its initial public offering

MONTRÉAL, June 9, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec announced today an additional equity investment of €100 million in SPIE, an independent European engineering leader. The firm offers electrical, mechanical and HVAC engineering services, as well as specialized energy services.

La Caisse's commitment, at the very beginning of the initial public offering process, facilitated SPIE's listing on the Paris stock exchange. As announced today by the company, SPIE issued new shares for €700 million. Based on the IPO price of €16.50 per share, SPIE's market capitalization totals approximately €2.5 billion.

"La Caisse's additional investment aims to enhance the company's financial flexibility and support its development strategy and growth that is both organic and acquisition-based," mentioned Andreas Beroutsos, Executive Vice-President, Private Equity at la Caisse. "With its experienced team and favourable growth prospects, SPIE has what it takes to continue to perform well. This reinvestment in a high-performing company already in our portfolio is perfectly aligned with our strategy as a long-term investor."

La Caisse has been one of SPIE's major shareholders since its initial investment in 2011. The company's resilience, despite an uncertain macroeconomic environment in several European markets, has generated attractive returns for our clients over the past four years.

"We are very pleased about the success of SPIE's IPO. This very positive response we received illustrates the investors' confidence in SPIE's development model and growth perspectives. Thanks to the support of its historical shareholders – especially the commitment made by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec ahead of this operation – thanks also to the expertise and commitment of its employees, the SPIE group has all the assets it needs to strengthen its position as the independent European leader in the multi-technical services."

ABOUT SPIE
As the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of electrical, mechanical, and HVAC engineering services and communication systems and specialized energy services, SPIE helps its customers design, build, operate and maintain energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly facilities. With more than 38,000 employees working from close to 550 sites in 35 countries, SPIE achieved consolidated revenues of €5.22 billion in 2014 and consolidated EBITA of €334 million.

ABOUT CAISSE DE DÉPÔT ET PLACEMENT DU QUÉBEC
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2014, it held $225.9 billion in net assets. As one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, la Caisse invests globally in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure and real estate. For more information: www.cdpq.com.

SOURCE Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

Jean-Benoît Houde, Senior Advisor, Media Relations, Tel.: [phone], [email protected]