There's another public sector pension plan using its sterling credit rating to fund real estate projects, as a unit of the B.C. Investment Management Corp. sold $200-million of bonds this week.
Holding company bcIMC Realty, a subsidiary of the $75-billion money manager, sold $200-million of five-year bonds on Tuesday, paying investors 3.38 per cent interest for the loan. The real estate company has a double-A credit rating, courtesy of the backstop provided by the parent fund and, by extension, the B.C. government. The B.C. Investment Management Corp. has 14 per cent of its assets in real estate.
RBC Dominion Securities led the offering, which was done as a private placement to institutions.
The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec have also sold bonds at attractive interest rates to underpin their real estate holdings. According to a report Tuesday from TD Securities, bcIMC Realty has also tapped markets directly in the past, with its last bond offering coming in 2005.
