The Future Fund has bowed out of the race for the proposed takeover of Transurban Group.
It announced yesterday that it was terminating discussions with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) regarding their proposal to acquire Transurban.
No explanation for the decision by Australia's sovereign wealth fund was given.
Transurban shares slumped 5 per cent after the news was made public to $4.88 a share.
In December, the Future Fund told the market it was in preliminary talks with OTTP and CPPIB to support their proposal to buy Transurban via a scheme of arrangement.
The Future Fund, which owns less than 1 percent of Transurban, said it would support the Canadian bid and aimed to help overcome some of the conditions that Transurban had said made the bid too uncertain, according to Reuters.
OTTP and CPPIB currently own about 28 per cent of Transurban, and according to media reports have been in a stand-off since Transurban rejected the Canadian funds' $5.25 a share offer in November last year.
CP2, which owns more than 14 percent of Transurban, is the third player involved but declined to comment on its position.
