Investissement Québec is a company established in 1998 under an act passed by the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...

to favour investment in Quebec by Quebec-based and international companies. Its registered office is located in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

. In December 2010 it took over the Société générale de financement. Investissement Québec initially held a 19% stake in the

Airbus A220 The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launched on 13 July 2 ...

(formerly Bombardier CSeries) programme. This was increased to 25% in February 2020, at no cash cost to Investissement Québec, as part of a deal that saw Bombardier sell its share to

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

Société générale de financement

The Société générale de financement (SGF) was a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

owned by the

Government of Quebec A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. Its mission was to attract investment to

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

by investing in other companies. Another mission was to promote new small businesses. In December 2010, Bill 123 that planned the merger of the SGF into Investissement Québec received royal assent. The SGF ceased activities on 31 March 2011.

Investments

Airbus Canada

In July 2016, Investissement Québec took a stake in C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership (CSALP), a joint venture with

Bombardier Aerospace Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer CS ...

to develop its

CSeries The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launched on 13 July 2 ...

aircraft. In October 2017, Airbus and Bombardier announced that Airbus would acquire a 50.01% majority stake in CSALP, with Bombardier keeping 31% and Investissement Québec 19%. This deal closed in July 2018, and the aircraft was rebranded as the

. Bombardier exited the A220 programme in February 2020, selling its share to Airbus; Investissement Québec kept a 25% share. In February 2022, a further $1.2b investment in Airbus Canada was agreed ($900m from Airbus, $300m from Investissement Québec) to support an acceleration of the A220's production rate.

Flying Whales

In 2019, Investissement Québec acquired a stake in

Flying Whales Flying Whales is a French aeronautic start-up. It develops an environmentally-friendly airship, the LCA60T, designed to transport heavy loads, such as wood logs or specific gear like wind-turbine blades, without structure supports. History Foun ...

, a start-up specializing in the construction and operation of rigid-structure airships. The state-owned company holds 24.99% of Flying Whales SAS, which corresponds to 15 million euros. An additional 5 million euros are planned for the Canadian subsidiary, bringing the total investment to 30 million Canadian dollars (20 million euros). Future aerostats are intended for transporting heavy or indivisible loads and could serve the northern regions of Quebec. In Ottawa in July 2020, the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry has not yet given its operating authorization to the Quebec subsidiary. The investment in the start-up, arouses controversy. The usual examination procedure seems to be lengthening. The federal government (Ottawa) would wonder about the risk of industrial espionage or the loss of intellectual property due to the presence of the "Chinese state-owned company AVIC" in the shareholding of Flying Whales SAS (with 24.99%). However, this only concerns the Quebec subsidiary (the 5 million euros).

References

External links

* Financial services companies established in 1998 Investment companies of Canada Companies based in Quebec {{Quebec-stub