Canada Housing Trust No. 1 Closes $2.9B Bond Offering

On September 30, 2002, Canada Housing Trust No. 1, a special purpose trust, closed a $2.9 billion offering of 5.10 per cent series 3 Canada Mortgage Bonds due September 15, 2007 and guaranteed by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a re-opening of the third series of bonds issued under CMHC’s Canada Mortgage Bond programme.

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP represented CMHC and was special counsel to Canada Housing Trust No. 1, with a team that included Rosalind Morrow (securities and derivatives), Stephen Redican and Gus Karantzoulis (banking and structured finance), Matt Campbell (securities) and Jonathan Willson (tax) in Toronto. Pierre d’Etcheverry of BLG in Montreal provided civil law services. BLG assisted CMHC’s in-house counsel Douglas Tyler and Reem Hindieh, and also assisted Ted Fujisawa, executive director, CIBC, the administrator to the trust. Gregory Shaw, Robert Harvey and Terry O’Brien of Cravath, Swaine & Moore advised CMHC and Canada Housing Trust No. 1 on U.S. legal matters.

The underwriters, led by RBC Dominion Securities Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. and Scotia Capital Inc., were represented by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, with a team consisting of Carol Pennycook and Andrea Daly in Toronto and Guy Lander and Scott Tayne in New York.