Canada Housing Trust No. 1 Completes $11 Billion Public Offering

On March 27, 2008, Canada Housing Trust No. 1, a special purpose securitization trust, completed the largest two-tranche debt financing in Canadian history. It issued 3.60 per cent Canada Mortgage Bonds, Series 19, in an aggregate principal amount of $9 billion and 4.05 per cent Canada Mortgage Bonds, Series 13 (Second Re-Opening), in an aggregate principal amount of $2.0 billion, for a combined total of $11.0 billion of Canada Mortgage Bonds, which were provided with Canada's sovereign guarantee through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (“CMHC”).

CMHC was represented in-house by Reem Hindieh, Marc-André Sirois and Louise Michel, who were assisted by Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, counsel to CMHC and special counsel to the trust, with a team that included Rosalind Morrow, Adam Segal, Terence Lui and Habeeb Syed (corporate and securities), Stephen Redican, Gus Karantzoulis and Alexander Singh (banking and financial services), Larissa Tkachenko (tax) in Toronto and Johanne Thomas (civil) in Montréal.
In the United States, CMHC and the trust were represented by Kevin Keogh, Sang Ji, Terry O'Brien and Gerret Baur of White & Case LLP.

The underwriting syndicate was led by The Toronto-Dominion Bank, CIBC World Markets Inc., Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and Scotia Capital Inc. (for Series 19), and led by Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Scotia Capital Inc. and The Toronto-Dominion Bank (for Series 13).

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP represented the underwriters, with a team that consisted of Carol Pennycook and Sonny Bhalla (corporate and securities) and Ron Wilson (tax) in Toronto, Daniela Liscio (corporate and securities) and Scott Semer (tax) in New York.