Major Canadian shareholder offloads stake in toll road operator MIG

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan's decision to offload its 10 per cent stake for $342 million to institutional investors has fuelled suspicions that it has taken a negative view of MIG's outlook, although those close to the sale insisted it was merely a portfolio re-allocation.

"They know this asset well . . . so it's clearly not a positive," said one unnamed fund manager.

The Canadian group's sale of 224.7 million shares at $1.40 apiece was at a 9 per cent discount to MIG's closing price on Thursday.

Ontario Teachers was the second-largest shareholder after MIG's parent, Macquarie Group.

Goldman Sachs JBWere analyst Jonathan Collett said Ontario Teachers' decision could "only be negative given it has been a long-time supporter of MIG and yet is selling near what could be the bottom".

The Macquarie satellite announced a proposal in August to split its toll road business into "good" and "bad" MIG, and revealed its 10 roads had debts of more than $35 billion. Since then, MIG has faced growing pressure to give more details at its annual meeting next Friday.

A White Funds Management portfolio manager, Will Seddon, said the timing of the sale was unusual ahead of the AGM and raised questions about whether Ontario Teachers had concerns about the looming restructure and expected cutting of ties with Macquarie Group.

However, he agreed it was also possible the fund was merely undertaking a portfolio re-allocation and was capitalising on the strength of the Australian dollar.

MIG securities closed down 11?, or 7 per cent, at $1.43 yesterday.

The Canadian pension group is a big player in infrastructure assets. Last month Macquarie Airports now known as MAp sold its cornerstone stake in Britain's underperforming Bristol Airport for #128 million ($A246 million) to Ontario Teachers.