CPPIB to buy Atlantia Chilean unit stake

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has agreed to buy a 49.99 percent stake in Italian motorway Operator Atlantia's Chilean unit Grupo Costanera for about 857 million euros ($1.13 billion US), the two groups said on Thursday.

CPPIB, one of the world's top private equity and infrastructure investors, will buy the stake from Atlantia's Autostrade per l'Italia unit.

The deal will provide the funding for the unit's investment program, Atlantia Chief Executive Giovanni Castellucci said. Atlantia will retain the remaining 50.01-percent interest in Grupo Costanera.

Costanera owns a portfolio of five toll roads, spanning a 188 kilometer network.

"The addition of these five major urban toll roads in Chile is an excellent opportunity to expand our infrastructure portfolio in a developing market," CPPIB senior vice-president of private investments Andre Bourbonnais said in a statement.

CPPIB, which invests on behalf of 18 million Canadians and manages more than $150 billion in assets, has said it would target assets being sold off by European companies struggling to shore up their balance sheets.