Canada’s largest pension fund says it will vote for Teck Resources Ltd.’s plan to split the mining company after a “technical error” last week caused it to state the opposite.
(Bloomberg) — Canada’s largest pension fund says it will vote for Teck Resources Ltd.’s plan to split the mining company after a “technical error” last week caused it to state the opposite.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which managed C$536 billion ($394 billion) at the end of December, will endorse a plan to spin off Teck’s steelmaking coal business at an April 26 shareholder meeting, it confirmed on Tuesday.
Last week, the pension fund’s website stated it would vote against the proposal. A CPPIB spokesperson said incorrect information was posted due to a technical error.
The vote has been framed by Glencore Plc., which is seeking to buy Teck, as a referendum on whether the board of the Canadian company should abandon the split and engage in talks. The companies have spent the past few weeks in a bruising fight to win over Teck investors, after its board and controlling shareholder publicly rejected Glencore’s proposal. The Swiss commodities giant offered to buy Teck for $23 billion and then create two new companies by combining their respective metals and coal businesses.
Teck’s controlling shareholder, Norman Keevil, has signaled that he’d support a transaction with the “right partner, on the right terms” after the firm separates its metals business from its coal operations.
CPPIB owned 1.15 million of Teck’s Class B shares, or 0.23%, as of Dec. 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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