As part of a rebalancing of its stock market portfolio, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec sells $700 million worth of shares in Alimentation Couche-Tard.
The decision to sell 10.8 million shares comes as the Laval convenience store chain’s stock hit a peak earlier this summer on the stock market.
Couche-Tard’s largest shareholder thus reduced its stake in Couche-Tard, which was 5.4% before the operation. It drops to 4.3% after the operation.
Couche-Tard is repurchasing the shares sold by la Caisse for cancellation purposes as part of an over-the-counter transaction with the Quebec institutional manager. The transaction is carried out at a discount of 3% compared to the price of Couche-Tard’s share recorded on Friday at the close of markets.
The sale of the shares by the Caisse is carried out at a price of $64.69, while Couche-Tard shares ended the last week at $66.69 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Caisse maintains that the decision to dispose of a large block of Couche-Tard shares is taken as part of the periodic rebalancing of its portfolio. The Caisse will still hold 41.5 million shares of Couche-Tard after the transaction, which still makes it one of its largest stock market investments in Quebec.
“Again this year, Alimentation Couche-Tard has delivered superior results for its shareholders. A long-time investor, the CDPQ intends to continue its commitment to support the future growth of the company, for the benefit of its depositors,” comments Kim Thomassin, Senior Vice-President and Head, Quebec of the CDPQ.
“As part of this transaction, the CDPQ will monetize part of its investment in order to reinject it into Quebec companies, while remaining one of the main shareholders of this international convenience store leader with a total stake of 2 .8 billion. »
Sixteen of the 18 analysts who officially follow Couche-Tard’s activities recommend buying the stock.
Couche-Tard’s stock approached the $70 mark at the end of June in Toronto.
