Canada’s biggest pension fund, CPP Investments, said on Tuesday it had sold a $2.1 billion portfolio of its private equity investments in certain North American and European buyout funds to France-based investment firm Ardian.

The deal will allow CPP, which manages C$575 billion ($418.6 billion) of assets, to rebalance its portfolio and free up capital for future investments.

“We see this sale as an attractive opportunity to optimize the construction of our portfolio and to allow us to further support future investments,” said Suyi Kim, senior managing director and global head of private equity at CPP.

“We have acquired a portfolio of well-diversified North American and European buyout funds led by high-quality GPs (general partners) who we know well,” said Mark Benedetti, co-head of Ardian U.S.

The investment firm manages $156 billion of assets for more than 1,470 clients globally.

Reuters