News Releases
Co-operators General Insurance Company Announces Closing of $100 Million Offering of a New Series of Preference Shares
Jun 12, 2007
9:05am
/THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO ANY UNITED STATES NEWS SERVICE/ GUELPH, ON, June 12 /CNW/ - Co-operators General Insurance Company ("Co-operators General" or the "Company") announced today that it has closed its bought deal offering (the "Offering") of $100 million of Non-Cumulative Redeemable Class E Preference Shares, Series C (the "Series C Preference Shares") underwritten by a syndicate of underwriters led by Scotia Capital Inc. and including RBC Dominion Securities Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., TD Securities Inc., Dundee Securities Corporation and HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. (collectively, the "Underwriters"). The Company entered in an underwriting agreement effective May 23, 2007 with the Underwriters pursuant to which the Underwriters agreed to purchase from Co-operators General and sell to the public 4,000,000 Series C Preference Shares at a price of $25.00 per Series C Preference Share for gross proceeds to the Company of $100,000,000. Each Series C Preference Share entitles the holder thereof to receive fixed non-cumulative preferential quarterly cash dividends in the amount of $0.3125 per Series C Preference Share, to yield 5.00 per cent per annum. The Series C Shares will commence trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") on June 12, 2007 under the symbol "CCS.PR.C". The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for general corporate purposes including to satisfy the payment of the redemption price for the Company's Class E Preference Shares, Series A (the "Series A Shares"). The Series A Shares will be redeemed on July 3, 2007 with an effective date of June 30, 2007. The redemption price for each Series A Share will be $25.00 plus declared, but unpaid dividends of $0.34375 per Series A Share. The Company has received the approval of the Superintendant of Financial Institutions in respect of the redemption of the Series A Shares. The Series C Preference Shares have not been and will not be registered in the United States under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered, sold or delivered in the United States absent registration or applicable exemption from the registration requirement of such Act. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy the Series C Preference Shares in the United States and any public offering of the shares in the United States must be made by means of a prospectus. About Co-operators General -------------------------- With assets of approximately $4.5 billion, Co-operators General Insurance Company is the leading Canadian-owned multi-product property and casualty insurance company. Co-operators General preference shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol CCS.PR.A. The company is part of The Co-operators, a national group of companies owned by 37 Canadian co-operative organizations that focuses on insurance as well as investment products and property development. Co-operators General Insurance Company can be found on the internet on www.cooperators.ca and on www.sedar.com Forward-Looking Statements -------------------------- This news release includes Forward-Looking statements with respect to Co-operators General, including its business operations and strategy as well as its financial performance and condition. These statements generally can be identified by the use of Forward-Looking words such as: "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. Although management of Co-operators General believe that the expectations reflected in such Forward-Looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such Forward-Looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include among other things, general economic conditions worldwide, market factors, including global capital market activity, interest rate and currency value fluctuations, business competition, changes in government regulations or in tax laws, technological changes, changes in consumer demand for the products and services of Co-operators General, catastrophic events, political conditions and developments. Co-operators General does not undertake to update any Forward-Looking statements. %SEDAR: 00008192EF
For further information: Bill McPhee, Vice-President, Corporate Finance, (519) 824-4400