Bank of Nova Scotia Raises $1B in Debenture Offering and $600M in Preferred Share Offerings

The Bank of Nova Scotia completed a domestic public offering on January 22, 2009 of $1 billion aggregate principal amount of 6.65 per cent debentures due 2021 (subordinated indebtedness). The debentures were placed by a syndicate of agents led by Scotia Capital Inc. and that included RBC Dominion Securities Inc., TD Securities Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., Laurentian Bank Securities Inc. and Manulife Securities Incorporated.

On January 21, 2009 The Bank of Nova Scotia completed a domestic public offering of 13 million Non-cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares Series 26 for gross proceeds of $325 million and on January 30, 2009 the bank completed a domestic public offering of 11 million Non-cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares Series 28 for gross proceeds of $275 million. The bank sold the preferred shares to a syndicate of underwriters led by Scotia Capital Inc. and that included RBC Dominion Securities Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., TD Securities Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., Blackmont Capital Inc., Dundee Securities Corporation, Laurentian Bank Securities Inc., Brookfield Financial Corp. and Manulife Securities Incorporated.

McCarthy Tétrault LLP acted for the bank under the direction of executive vice-president, general counsel and secretary, Deborah Alexander, and senior legal counsel Katy Waugh, with a team consisting of Barry Ryan, Jonathan Grant, Robert Hansen and Catherine Fagnan (business law) and Gabrielle Richards and Gwendolyn Watson (tax).

Scotia Capital Inc. and the syndicate of agents and underwriters were advised by Steven Smith, Kashif Zaman and Rachel Halperin (corporate finance and securities) and Andrew McGuffin (tax) of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.