The Caisse's interest in BAA is still a sound investment

In response to an article that was published in the Journal de Montréal this morning, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec would like to state that its interest in airport operator BAA is still a sound investment.

The quality of BAA’s assets was recently confirmed once again by Standard & Poor’s. BAA operates a diversified portfolio of seven U.K. airports that handled 115 million passengers in the first nine months of 2007, an increase of 1.4% over the previous year. Standard & Poor’s also pointed out the quality of BAA’s strategic positioning.

The credit rating of BAA’s debt, which trades on the public bond market, was maintained by the rating agency and has not changed since the acquisition date. The portion affected by the downgrade is a private financing whose main parameters were put in place for five years when the acquisition was made in July 2006 and remain unchanged.

The downgrade of the private portion of BAA’s debt therefore has no short-term impact on the Caisse’s investment in the company.

“The Caisse’s investment is in no way at risk,” stated Henri-Paul Rousseau, President and Chief Executive Officer. “The Caisse is a long-term investor. The fundamental attributes of BAA’s airports, including those in London, remained solid. London will be the hub of global air transport for many years to come.”

About the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is a financial institution that manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2006, it held $143.5 billion of net assets. One of the leading institutional fund managers in Canada, the Caisse invests in the main financial markets as well as in private equity and real estate. For more information: www.cdpq.com.