Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has acquired leading investment research and governance services provider Glass, Lewis & Co.

The San Francisco-based company was purchased for US$46 million from Xinhua Finance Limited of Shanghai.

“Corporate governance has always been an important issue for institutional investors like Teachers’,” said Brian Gibson, senior vp, public equities, Teachers’, in a news release.

“Our Glass Lewis acquisition is an investment in a skilled team of people doing important work. We will be involved at the board level for strategy development, not in the day-to-day management of the company. Glass Lewis’ operations will remain separate from Teachers’,” Gibson said..

He added that Glass Lewis, the second largest agency of its kind in the world, will continue to market its research and proxy voting services internationally to all members of the money management and institutional investment industries.

Glass, Lewis & Co. is an investment research and global proxy advisory and voting services firm, serving institutions that collectively manage more than US$15 trillion.

With $106 billion in net assets as of December 31, 2006, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan invests the pension fund’s assets and administers the pensions of 271,000 active and retired Ontario teachers.