The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec headquarters in Montreal in 2023. Caisse-owned infrastructure fund manager Plenary Americas became the last bidder for ISC in April.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
A Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec unit has struck a deal to buy Information Services Corp. ISC-T in a $1.2-billion deal after emerging as the lone, final bidder for the Regina-based digital services company.
Caisse-owned infrastructure fund manager Plenary Americas, which is paying $51 per share, became the last bidder in April for ISC, a provider of registry and information management services for public data and records, after concerns about potential job losses eliminated another suitor. ISC stock was trading in the low $30s before it launched the strategic review last September that led to the sale.
Plenary Americas will keep ISC’s Regina headquarters and the company will operate independently of the Caisse unit’s other portfolio investments, the parties said in a release. ISC is entitled to consider unsolicited proposals but would have to pay a $55-million break fee to Plenary if it opts out of the deal. Plenary would owe ISC a $66-million break fee if the transaction does not proceed.
The government of Saskatchewan took ISC public in 2013 at $14 a share and retained 29 per cent of the stock, plus a “golden share” with special voting and veto powers. The province will retain that golden share along with enhancements introduced through recent amendments to a provincial act related to ISC. The company has added new businesses such as running lottery technology to its property data division in recent years, but its crown jewel remains a contract to manage Saskatchewan’s land and corporate registry service through 2053.
Data company ISC receives four preliminary takeover offers
Dion Tchorzewski, chair of the ISC special committee overseeing the process, said in a statement, “This transaction achieves all our objectives by delivering immediate value for shareholders and positioning ISC to continue its growth, all while remaining headquartered in Regina, governed by the same regulatory protections, and led by the same management team.”
ISC was a little-known company with a thinly traded stock before former Dye & Durham Ltd. DND-T CEO Matthew Proud targeted the company last spring through his private holding company, Plantro Ltd.
It was one of four activist campaigns Mr. Proud launched after leaving D&D that targeted companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, including successful efforts to push for board changes and sales at Calian Group Ltd. CGY-T, Ag Growth International Inc. AFN-T and Dye & Durham. Mr. Proud’s TSX-listed special purpose acquisition company, MAK Acquisition Corp., also last week struck a deal to merge with last-mile e-commerce delivery company UniUni. The Globe and Mail first reported on the UniUni deal, as well as Plenary Americas’ emergence as the final bidder for ISC.
Plantro launched a mini-tender in April, 2025, to buy up to 15 per cent of ISC’s Class A shares for $27.25, later increasing that to $30 after pushing behind the scenes to shake up ISC’s board and make a strategic investment. Mr. Proud believed ISC, with healthy cash flows and its long-term government contracts, was undervalued. He’d known ISC for years; ISC had once owned 30 per cent of D&D when it was private. ISC sold the stake back to D&D in 2017 after the Toronto company bought ISC competitor OnCorp Direct.
ISC called Plantro’s bid “abusive and coercive,” and Mr. Proud’s holding company only got 3.13 per cent of the stock through its offer. But Plantro later increased its stake to more than 5 per cent, giving it enhanced shareholder powers. In late summer last year, Plantro went on the offensive, requesting a special meeting to replace the ISC’s seven non-government directors and cut the board’s size. Days later, ISC launched its strategic review and Plantro withdrew its request. Mr. Proud at the time said he was “100 per cent the driving force behind this.”
Plantro stands to book a $30-million-plus gain on its ISC investment. “We are pleased that our efforts catalyzed today’s announcement which unlocks significant value for all ISC shareholders,” Mr. Proud said in an e-mailed statement.
The Caisse acquired Plenary Americas in 2020 from an Australian institutional investor as part of its strategy of increasing its investments in long-life infrastructure assets.
Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) also made an offer for ISC. OMERS also owns Teranet, the property registry service provider in Ontario and Manitoba, and could have realized synergies by uniting the business with ISC.
But the ISC board and its advisers picked Plenary in part over concerns about potential job losses at a company that is a significant employer in Saskatchewan. The provincial government and its Crown Investment Corp., which held the ISC stake, had made clear they would only approve a deal that protected the province’s best interests and local jobs.
RBC Capital Markets and law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP ran ISC’s strategic review. CIBC Capital Markets advised Crown Investments and National Bank Capital Markets provided an independent fairness opinion to the special committee. Barclays Capital was lead financial adviser to Plenary Americas. Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg served as its legal adviser.