Canada Housing Trust No. 1 Completes $5.5B Public Offering

On June 22, 2010, Canada Housing Trust No. 1, a special purpose securitization trust, completed a debt financing consisting of the issuance of 3.150 per cent Canada Mortgage Bonds, Series 35, in an aggregate principal amount of $5,500,000,000, which was provided with Canada's sovereign guarantee through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (“CMHC”).

CMHC was represented in-house by Reem Hindieh and Marc-André Sirois, who were assisted by Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, counsel to CMHC and special counsel to the trust, with a team that included Rosalind Morrow and Terence Lui (corporate and securities); Stephen Redican, Gus Karantzoulis and Tiffany Murray (banking and financial services) and 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, Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., National Bank Financial Inc. and RBC Dominion Securities Inc. Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP represented the underwriters, with a team consisting of Carol Pennycook and Sonny Bhalla (corporate and securities) and Ron Wilson (tax) in Toronto, Scott Tayne (corporate and securities) and Erica Duncan (tax) in New York.