Canada: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a pension and insurance fund manager, has taken control of the McInnis Cement plant currently being built on the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec. The US$850m project was facing ‘significant’ cost overruns and the CDPQ stepped in to protect its investment. It has agreed to invest an additional US$96.5m into the project with a US$96.5m debenture using funds managed by BlackRock Alternative Investors. The CDPQ has said that the US$193m of additional investment will be enough to complete the project.

“We believe that this project has high-quality fundamentals. For this reason, la Caisse has entered into a change-of-control agreement with Beaudier. With the new executive team in place and the new capital structure we are announcing today, McInnis Cement will be able to capitalise on attractive market opportunities and generate returns for la Caisse’s clients,” said Christian Dubé, Executive Vice-President, Québec, at the CDPQ.

McInnis Cement announced a change in its management on 2 August 2016 including recruitment for a new CEO.