Quebec's public pension manager, Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (La Caisse), will buy a 49.9% interest in wireless towers owned by BCE Inc. for C$2.45 billion ($1.7 billion), according to a statement Tuesday. The deal will give the telecommunications firm cash to pare its debt burden or fund its artificial intelligence strategy. La Caisse made a similar deal last year with Telus Corp., another of Canada's three large wireless companies.
BCE reduced its dividend in 2025 to free up cash for trimming debt and deploying capital in areas such as artificial intelligence data centers, as growth in the Canadian wireless sector has slowed. The new wireless infrastructure company, called Tower Co, will be Canada's largest dedicated tower company, with more than 5,000 sites. BCE Chief Executive Officer Mirko Bibic said the transaction fits the company's approach: "Our approach is to strengthen our balance sheet, invest in growth and deliver total returns to shareholders."
Telecoms are the worst-performing group in Canada's S&P/TSX Composite Index this year, falling 15.6% as of Monday's close, with BCE down 13%. Consumer wireless and cable businesses show little growth, pushing companies to look for new revenue sources. BCE has bet on an AI-services strategy and acquired Ziply, a US regional internet provider.
Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi said BCE is likely to recycle the cash into growth areas such as AI-powered solutions, so the deal does not meaningfully deleverage the balance sheet. Last month, the company announced plans to expand a new data center campus in Saskatchewan to as much as 1.2 gigawatts of capacity, quadruple its original size. BCE aims to reduce its net debt leverage ratio to 3.5 times by the end of 2027, down from approximately 3.8 times adjusted EBITDA at the end of last year.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing