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The National Lottery has been sold to a Canadian pension fund in a £389 million deal announced last night.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which has stakes in Northumbrian Water and Bristol and Birmingham airports, fought off strong competition from the private equity fund CVC Capital Partners to secure the deal, which has to be approved by the National Lottery Commission.

Ontario is the largest single-profession pension fund in Canada. It has C$87.4 billion under management and looks after the pensions of 284,000 teachers.

Camelot, which has run the lottery since it began in 1994, was put up for sale last year after Royal Mail succumbed to pressure from the group’s other shareholders — the banknote printer De La Rue, Cadbury, Fujitsu and the French defence company Thales — which all wanted to sell.

Ontario’s enthusiasm for Camelot is thought to have come from the possibility of winning another lottery licence when the current one runs out in nine years and even expanding the game overseas. Camelot holds an option to extend its licence by a further five years.

Lee Sienna, vice president of investments, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan said: “Teachers’ takes a long-term view of its investments, providing an environment of stability, commitment and continuity in the businesses it invests in, and is committed to supporting Camelot’s management team.”

Dianne Thompson, Camelot’s chief executive, said: “We welcome Teachers’ commitment and look forward to working with them to deliver even more money for the good causes.”

The deal comes as a blow to CVC, which was rumoured to have made a higher offer than Ontario — and to have draped a Union Jack over its bid to make it more appealing. CVC was thought to have lined up the former Cadbury chief Sir John Sunderland to be its chairman.

The group also approached Sir Matthew Pinsent, the Olympic rower, to be a non-executive director to align itself with the Lottery’s support of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Lloyds Banking group and the Royal Bank of Scotland would have financed a successful CVC bid.