CDPQ, FTQ Invest $424M in Québec Energy Provider

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the public pension fund of Québec, announced on Friday that the fund has invested C$575 million ($424.10 million) alongside capital network Fonds de solidarité FTQ in Énergir, a Québec-based provider of energy.

The investment will support the provider’s transition to decarbonizing its energy production through developing renewable energy projects and renewable natural gas production plants.

The company supports 535,000 customers across Canada and the U.S, where the company is the sole distributor of natural gas in Vermont, according to a news release. The firm mainly generates energy from natural gas and is the largest gas distributor in Québec.

In April, Fonds FTQ announced that all new customers that want to connect to its network for the first time must be powered by 100% renewable energy through renewable natural gas. The company aims to achieve carbon neutrality in all of its buildings by 2040 and in the energy it distributes by 2050.

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In January 2022, CDPQ and FTQ had increased their stakes in Trencap LP, the owner of Énergir, to 80.9% and 19.1%, respectively.

“Supporting the growth and energy transition of our portfolio companies, particularly those in Québec, are central elements of CDPQ’s strategy, and our backing of Énergir since 2004 is a good example of that,” said Emmanuel Jaclot, executive vice president and head of infrastructure at CDPQ, in a statement.

CDPQ, with C$453 billion in assets under management, is among the largest public pension investors in Canada. The fund’s infrastructure portfolio has returned an annualized 9.5% over the past five years through the end of 2023. In its 2023 annual report, the fund noted that infrastructure’s value add to the fund was “largely due to favorable positioning in promising sectors such as renewable energy.”

According to the fund’s 2023 sustainable investing report, CDPQ aims to reach a net-zero portfolio by 2050 and, so far, has achieved C$53 billion in low-carbon assets, including C$15 billion of assets based in Québec.

FTQ, with C$20 billion in assets, is a development capital network which invests in Québec-based companies and projects.