Article content

The citizens of Ontario will be taking a more than passing interest in the upcoming initial public offering of Hydro One.

First they’ll want to know that the public assets being sold are attracting the highest possible price.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Ontario turns into a banker for unions so they can buy Hydro One shares Back to video

And they’ll be interested because the citizens, through the government, will also become lenders in the IPO.

The prospectus indicates the provincial government will make $87 million in loans to two unions whose members are employed in the electricity sector, specifically at Hydro One (the distribution and transmission arm) and Ontario Power Generation (the production arm). In turn those two unions will use the cash advanced by the government to purchase common shares in Hydro One’s IPO. (At $87 million the investment could be five per cent of the IPO.)

But the Power Workers Union and the Society of Energy Professionals plan to purchase more shares in the offering than what the $87-million loan from the province will buy. For those additional purchases, they will use their own funds.