These gains don't cause pain. A capital gain is the amount of money you pocket by selling one of your investments for more than you paid for it. Technically, capital gains only count for what's called a capital asset, but that's really just anything you own for investment purposes. Stocks and bonds obviously qualify, but your house and household furnishings can also count.

For tax purposes, capital gains are classified as either long-term (held for more than one year) or short-term (held for less than one year) and there are different tax implications for how long you hold onto a capital asset. For most long-term capital gains, you're taxed no more than 15% of the value of the asset. Short-term gains get taxed as regular income, so you pay the rate for the tax bracket you're in.

Capital gains can also be realized or unrealized. When you physically sell an asset like a stock, you've realized the capital gain. When you're holding the stock, and it has a value over its purchase price, but you're not selling it, you've got an unrealized gain, and you won't realize it until you sell.

In a perfect world, we'd all have capital gains. But no one¿s that smart or lucky. When the value of an asset at sale is below what you've paid for it, it's called a capital loss. The good news is that the government lets you count that loss against any gains you've had, lowering the taxes you pay. In fact, many people who sell a stock that has risen far over their purchase price tend to sell some stinkers, too, at the same time for the tax benefit. This is known as a capital-loss offset.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure complete acquisition of SAESA Group

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TORONTO/NEW YORK, Jul 24, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) ----The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Teachers') and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure (MSI) have completed the transaction to jointly acquire SAESA Group (SAESA), a Chilean electricity distribution, transmission and generation company, from Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) for a purchase price of US$887 million. Under the agreement announced with PSEG on June 17, Teachers' and MSI each own 50% of the company and have assumed approximately US$400 million in existing company debt. The enterprise value of the company is US$1.3 billion.

"As an international infrastructure investor, we are very pleased to be a new, long-term shareholder of SAESA's diversified electricity assets," said Stephen Dowd, Teachers' Senior Vice-President, Infrastructure. "We invest in companies with stable cash flows linked to inflation to help pay inflation-indexed pensions. SAESA is an excellent fit for our portfolio and we look forward to supporting Francisco Mualim and his management team both strategically and financially to foster the company's future growth and success."

"We are pleased to have SAESA as part of our portfolio of infrastructure investments," said Ron Lepin, Chief Operating Officer of MSI. "SAESA operates in a high-growth market within a favorable regulatory environment, which allows for long-term predictable cash flows that fit our investment objectives. We look forward to working closely with SAESA's experienced management team to extend the company's strong track record and sector performance."

SAESA is the second largest electricity distributor in Chile in terms of geographical coverage, and is the main provider of electricity in the rapidly growing southern regions of the country. The company serves 16% of Chile's population, providing electric service to approximately 2.6 million people. In addition, SAESA owns and operates 135MWs of wind, hydro, and thermal power generation capacity, and through its transmission company, owns and operates 950 km of transmission lines. Francisco Mualim, Chief Executive Officer, and his management team will continue to operate SAESA's electricity assets from the company's head office in Osorno, Chile.

About the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada, with C$108.5 billion (US$107.1 billion) in net assets as of December 31, 2007. An independent corporation, it is responsible for investing the pension fund's assets and administering the pensions of Ontario's 278,000 active and retired teachers. Teachers' Infrastructure portfolio was initiated in 2001 and focuses on the acquisition and long-term retention of assets that have a long economic life and offer low-risk, reliable returns linked to inflation to pay indexed pensions. More information is available at www.otpp.com.

About Morgan Stanley Infrastructure

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure is a global investment platform that focuses on long-term investments associated with providing essential public goods and services to societies across the globe. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure is part of the Merchant Banking Division within Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Morgan Stanley Investment Management has US$605 billion in assets under management as of May 31, 2008. For further information about Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, please visit www.morganstanley.com/infrastructure.

SOURCE: Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan

Carol Dunsmore, Ontario
   Teachers' Pension Plan, (416) 730-5302, carol_dunsmore@otpp.com, www.otpp.com; Marie Ali, Vice President, Corporate Communications,
   Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, (212) 762-6884, Marie.Ali@morganstanley.com, www.morganstanley.com/infrastructure

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