Canada Pension Plan board approached about investing in Trans Mountain

The head of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board says the federal government's financial adviser has raised the possibility of getting involved in the Trans Mountain pipeline project but added there's been no political pressure applied.

CPPIB chief executive Mark Machin said that the Toronto-based fund manager and its peers likely will take a look at the stalled Trans Mountain project because there are a limited number of investment opportunities of its magnitude.

Machin's comments to the House of Commons finance committee today came less than two weeks after the government announced it would buy the project for $4.5 billion from Kinder Morgan to ensure the pipeline's expansionwill be completed.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau has predicted the Trudeau government will have no difficulty selling the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project after uncertainty about its future is resolved.

The federal government's hand was forced by B.C. Premier John Horgan, who is waging a court battle over the federally regulated pipeline, which would carry diluted bitumen from Alberta's oilsands to a seaport near Vancouver.

Machin told the finance committee that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has had both good and bad experiences with pipelines and will use its usual approach when deciding whether to put money into Trans Mountain.