Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, one of the private equity industry’s largest buyers of fund interests and firm stakes on the secondary market, also may be one of the industry’s biggest sellers this year.

The investment board, which as of December 31 managed 238.8 billion Canadian dollars in assets for Canada's national pension system, is exploring the potential sale of about $1 billion to $1.5 billion of private equity fund stakes managed by four different firms, said three people familiar with the deal.