Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Tuesday, September 14 2021 - 08:00
AsiaNet
Ontario Teachers' reaches agreement to become a significant shareholder in Greenstone
SYDNEY, TORONTO and MONTREAL, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

-- CDPQ and HIBV will continue to be significant shareholders in Greenstone 
following the transaction

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') announced today it has 
reached an agreement to acquire a 33.4% interest in Greenstone, one of 
Australia and New Zealand's leading insurance distributors.

Headquartered in Sydney, and established in 2007, Greenstone has focused on 
developing simple and affordable life and general insurance products for 
Australians and New Zealanders. This positioning has enabled Greenstone to 
quickly become a leader in the direct distribution of insurance products with 
over 650,000 in force policies. Its unique customer-focused and 
technology-driven approach has earned the Company extensive industry awards and 
recognition.

Ontario Teachers' investment represents a full exit by co-founder Gavin 
Donnelly, while the other two major shareholders, HIBV, and CDPQ, a global 
investment group, will sell-down pro-rata and collectively own the remaining 
interest. Ontario Teachers' looks forward to working collaboratively with HIBV 
and CDPQ to reinforce Greenstone's mission to bring innovative insurance 
products to Australian and New Zealand consumers.

"We are excited to add another long-term investor in Ontario Teachers' to our 
register. We believe they are an ideal sponsor given their deep expertise 
investing in leading financial services businesses and value-added partnership 
model. This significant commitment from Ontario Teachers' further validates the 
quality of our proposition and our commitment to the long-term growth of the 
business", said Brenard Grobler, Greenstone CEO.

"The investment in Greenstone is consistent with our strategy of investing in 
industry-leading financial services businesses with high-quality management 
teams and innovative technology. We look forward to working closely with 
management and our partners and contributing to the company's continued 
success", said Ben Chan, Senior Managing Director, Asia-Pacific at Ontario 
Teachers'.

"We are delighted to have Ontario Teachers' joining us as a new investor in 
Greenstone. We have a close working relationship, having together successfully 
invested in companies and demonstrated our commitment to ESG initiatives over 
the years", said Martin Laguerre, Executive Vice-President and Head of Private 
Equity and Capital Solutions at CDPQ. "Greenstone is an industry leader in the 
insurance sector, a key focus for CDPQ, that we are pleased to support since 
2016. We look forward to cooperating with Ontario Teachers' and the management 
team as the business progresses into its next stage of growth".     

Both Ontario Teachers' and CDPQ are significant investors in Australia and New 
Zealand. With a diverse portfolio in private equity, infrastructure and natural 
resources, Ontario Teachers' has recently invested in Abano Healthcare Group 
and Asia Pacific Healthcare Group. For its part, CDPQ has been active in 
infrastructure, logistics real estate and private equity. Recent investments 
include Healthscope, a private hospital operator, and Sydney Metro.

The Transaction is subject to Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board 
approval and other closing conditions.

ABOUT GREENSTONE 
Greenstone specialises in harnessing technology and data analytics in order to 
design, market, distribute and administer personal insurance products. 
Greenstone offers products in the life, funeral, income protection, pet and 
general insurance markets. These insurance products are distributed through 
Greenstone's proprietary brands (Real Insurance, Australian Seniors, New 
Zealand Seniors, OneChoice, Guardian Insurance and Prime Pet Insurance) and 
affinity brands (Medibank, ahm, Woolworths, Guide Dogs Pet Insurance and RSPCA 
Pet Insurance). In addition, Greenstone also distributes its proprietary, 
affinity and third party insurance products, through its online comparison 
website, Choosi.

ABOUT ONTARIO TEACHERS' PENSION PLAN
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') is the administrator 
of Canada's largest single-profession pension plan, with CAD 227.7 billion in 
net assets as at 30 June 2021 (all figures at June 30, 2021 unless noted). It 
holds a diverse global portfolio of assets, approximately 80% of which is 
managed in-house, and has earned an annual total-fund net return of 9.6% since 
the plan's founding in 1990. The defined-benefit plan, which is fully funded as 
at January 1, 2021, invests and administers the pensions of the province of 
Ontario's 331,000 active and retired teachers. For more information, visit 
otpp.com and follow us on Twitter @OtppInfo.

ABOUT CDPQ
At Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), we invest constructively to 
generate sustainable returns over the long term. As a global investment group 
managing funds for public retirement and insurance plans, we work alongside our 
partners to build enterprises that drive performance and progress. We are 
active in the major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real 
estate and private debt. As at June 30, 2021 CDPQ's net assets total CAD 390 
billion. For more information, visit www.cdpq.com, follow us on Twitter ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3288853-1&h=3410038838&u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FlaCDPQ%3Flang%3Den&a=Twitter 
) or consult our Facebook ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3288853-1&h=174822884&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FCDPQ-886100618136035%2F&a=Facebook 
) or LinkedIn ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3288853-1&h=1658612789&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fcompany%2Fcdpq&a=LinkedIn 
) pages.

GREENSTONE, THERESE WATERS, Head of Communications, +61 418 116 708, 
therese.waters@greenstone.com.au; ONTARIO TEACHERS', DAN MADGE, Director, 
External Communications, +1 416 730 6451, media@otpp.com; Prudence Lai, +852 
2903 9291, otpp_asia@kekstcnc.com; CDPQ, CONRAD HARRINGTON, Senior Director – 
International Media Relations, + 1 514 847-5493, charrington@cdpq.com

SOURCE: Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan; Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec