Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan closes transaction to increase stake in Bristol International Airport

TORONTO - The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Teachers') has completed the transaction to increase its stake in Bristol International Airport, Britain's ninth busiest airport, and to sell its minority stake in Copenhagen Airports.

An agreement was announced on September 16 for Teachers' to acquire a 35.5%(1) interest in Bristol Airport from Macquarie Airports (MAp) for GBP128 million (C$220 million). Teachers' also agreed to sell its 3.9% interest in Copenhagen Airports to MAp for DKK570 million (C$118 million). As a result of this transaction, Teachers' increases its ownership in Bristol Airport to approximately 49% and no longer has a stake in Copenhagen Airports. Teachers' has been a Bristol investor since 2002.

"We are very pleased to be able to increase our ownership in Bristol Airport and look forward to working with management and our partner to support the airport's development plan going forward," said Stephen Dowd, Senior Vice-President and head of infrastructure investing for Teachers'. "We look all over the world for good opportunities to buy top-quality infrastructure assets. The increase in our Bristol stake is a good example of our strategy to invest directly in well-run, long-term businesses that will provide stable and attractive returns over a long horizon."

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada, with C$87.4 billion in assets as of December 31, 2008. An independent organization, it invests the pension fund's assets and administers the pensions of 284,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario.