Couche-Tard Buying Back C$700 Million of Its Shares From Quebec Pension Investment Manager

By Robb M. Stewart

Alimentation Couche-Tard will buy back 700 million Canadian dollars (US$508.8 million) of its shares from Quebec's big pension fund manager as it leverage a strong balance sheet to repurchase stock.

The Canadian convenience store and gas station operator said Tuesday it will buy for cancellation roughly 8.7 million of its shares held by Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec at C$80.50 apiece, a discount of roughly 3% over the last closing price. The buyback will be made with cash on hand, it said.

When the private arrangement is completed, Caisse will remain a major shareholder with an about 3.5% stake in Couche-Tard worth some C$2.7 billion. The pension investment company said the proceeds will be invested in other companies in the province of Quebec.

A year ago, Couche-Tard bought a similar C$700 million of its shares from Caisse as part of Caisse's periodic portfolio rebalancing. In late April, the Toronto Stock Exchange approved the renewal of the company's normal course issuer bid to buy back about 78.1 million shares, about 10% of the issued and outstanding total.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 23, 2024 08:07 ET (12:07 GMT)

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