Bell Canada in Buyout Talks

BCE Inc., the parent of Canada’s largest telephone company, said Tuesday it is in talks to sell the business to a group of pension funds.

BCE, which is the parent company of Bell Canada, said it is looking at the possibility of making the publicly held company private.

The group is led by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board.

U.S. private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. also will join the group as a minority partner because rules prohibit non-Canadians from owning more than 46 percent of a telecommunications company in the country.

It also has been reported that the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is interested in a buyout of BCE.

BCE Inc. www.bce.ca

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