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SGF’s new five year developpment plan
$12.7 billion in investments, 60,000 jobs and special emphasis on regional economic development
Montréal, February 23, 2003 - The Government of Québec has approved SGF’s new 2002‑2006 five‑year plan. According to Claude Blanchet, Chair of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of SGF, "The goal of this new plan is to generate $12.7 billion in investments and focus on industrial clusters to plan and develop our projects. Another objective of the plan, he continued, is to make Québec regions more competitive and set up specialized and high tech venture capital funds, while ensuring an appropriate return for our shareholder. Through these investments, SGF expects to be able to create 60,000 direct and indirect jobs over five years."
Creating 60,000 new jobs would be equivalent to 15% of the new jobs Québec is expected to create during this period. By carrying out this plan, SGF and its future private partners will add some $8 billion to Québec’s GDP. The $12.7 billion in investments would be equivalent to nearly 38% of the capital expenditures in the manufacturing sector expected in Québec between 2002 and 2006.
"To carry out this new $12.7 billion plan, SGF will only need an additional equity subscription of $1 billion, and not until 2005, whereas in its previous plan, $2 billion was required. We have subscribed capital stock totalling approximately $950 million which was not issued as at December 31, 2001, said Blanchet, and since we expect to divest $1.210 billion in assets over the period in question, we will only need $1 billion in new subscriptions from our shareholder."
SGF will also guarantee its shareholder an average return on equity over a period of 5 to 7 years equal to or more than the shareholder’s interest rate, i.e. the five‑year rate on Québec bonds. The SGF president also said he is willing to look at new ways of financing SGF and hopes that, when the parliamentary committee discusses the new plan, there will be a debate regarding the various possibilities.
The mission of the Société générale de financement du Québec (SGF) is to carry out economic development projects in cooperation with partners and in accordance with accepted requirements for profitability. Since it was restructured in 1998, SGF has generated $10.6 billion in investments and created more than 56,000 direct and indirect jobs. As of December 31, 2001, SGF’s consolidated assets totaled over $3 billion. SGF has 65 international partners operating in Québec. (sgfqc.com)
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Source:
Jean-Yves Duthel
SGF
Vice-President
Communications and Public Relations
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