La Caisse, Quebec’s public pension fund manager formerly known as CDPQ, announced on Jan. 26, 2026, that it will sell a block of Cogeco Communications shares representing nearly 11 per cent of the company’s subordinate shares at $67.45 per share, for gross proceeds of about $229 million, while remaining the company’s largest holder of subordinate shares.
A rebalancing, not an exit
The Montreal-based fund said the transaction is linked to its periodic portfolio rebalancing. Even after the sale, La Caisse will remain the largest holder of subordinate shares in Cogeco Communications, which provides internet, mobile, TV and home phone services to 1.6 million residential and business customers in Canada and the United States.
“La Caisse has supported Cogeco Communications since 2013 and continues to firmly believe in its potential. Our participation in several major transactions, including the purchase of a $350-million block of shares in 2023, underscores the confidence we have in the company and the direction it is taking,” said Kim Thomassin, executive vice-president and head of Québec at La Caisse. “The funds generated will be redeployed in Québec companies to support and accelerate their growth.”
That redeployment pledge is central to how La Caisse describes its mandate: generating optimal long-term returns for its 48 depositors, who represent over six million Quebecers, while also contributing to Québec’s economic development. As at June 30, 2025, the fund’s net assets totalled $496 billion.
A relationship back to 2013
La Caisse first invested in Cogeco Communications in 2013 by providing a $50-million loan. In 2017, it contributed US$315 million toward Cogeco’s acquisition of MetroCast cable systems in the United States, the deal that gave the Quebec company a substantial U.S. footprint. In 2023, it purchased Rogers Communications’ stake in the company in a $350-million block transaction, cementing its position as the largest holder of the subordinate shares.
The shares being sold are subordinate voting shares; Cogeco’s control rests with its multiple voting shares, held through the Audet family holding company, Cogeco Inc. The sale therefore changes the fund’s economic exposure to the cable and telecom operator without altering who controls it.
For investors, the announcement is a reminder of how La Caisse periodically manages concentrated positions in Quebec champions: trimming a large, long-held stake at a set price, keeping a leading position, and recycling the proceeds into other Quebec companies.
The fund behind the trade
La Caisse, which adopted its new name after six decades as the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, invests the funds of 48 depositors — principally Quebec public pension and insurance plans — representing over six million Quebecers. It describes its mandate as dual: generate optimal long-term returns for those depositors while contributing to Québec’s economic development. Its portfolio spans public equity markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private credit, and its net assets totalled $496 billion as at June 30, 2025.
Block sales of the kind announced Monday are the standard mechanism for a holder of La Caisse’s size: rather than dribbling shares into the open market, where a seller of millions of shares would pressure the price, a negotiated block moves the position at a fixed price — here, $67.45 a share — in a single transaction. The structure also explains the precision of the announcement: nearly 11 per cent of the subordinate shares, about $229 million in proceeds, and a continuing position as the largest holder of that class. Cogeco, for its part, continues to be controlled through its multiple voting shares, so the trade redraws the shareholder register without touching the levers of corporate control.
