Teachers' fund to vote against Magna's Russia plan

Mon Aug 27, 2007 1:51pm EDT

TORONTO Aug 27 (Reuters) - Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan will vote against a restructuring plan by Magna International MGa.TO which the pension fund says doesn't consider Class A shareholders.

Ontario Teachers said the proposed transaction to sell a chunk of Magna, one of North America's biggest auto-parts makers, is a "de facto" change of ownership.

Magna shareholders will vote on Tuesday on a $1.54 billion investment by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, which the board of Magna approved in July.

If approved, Deripaska would get 20 million common shares of Magna and six spots on the 14-seat board of directors of a new entity that will control Magna.

Magna is betting that the Russian market will prove much richer than the depressed North American auto market.

Analysts have estimated that the value of Magna's average content per vehicle in the Russian market could reach $1,000, about 20 percent more than the $832 in content Magna supplies to North American vehicles.

Deripaska, described by Forbes magazine as Russia's second richest man, is unable to travel to the United States after being stripped of his U.S. visa for suspected criminal links, according to a Wall St. Journal report earlier this year.

($1=$1.05 Canadian)

((Reporting by Frank Pingue, editing by Bernadette Baum; Reuters Messaging: frank.pingue.reuters.com@reuters.net, +1 416 941-8094)) Keywords: MAGNA TEACHERS/

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