N-45° Closes CMBS Offering

N-45° First CMBS Issuer Corporation, an affiliate of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDP) closed its Series 2001-1 Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) offering on April 11, 2001. This fourth CMBS deal sponsored by CDP’s affiliates is the largest public CMBS public offering ever made in Canada. The seven classes of bonds with an aggregate principal balance of $358,412,535 ($14.3 million of which was privately placed) were distributed in all ten Canadian provinces. The bonds are backed by the cash flow generated by nine large mortgage loans secured by six commercial properties. Three of the secured properties are office buildings located in downtown Toronto (Bell Trinity Square, Atrium on Bay and Queen’s Quay Terminal) and three are shopping centres located in Quebec (Les Galeries de Terrebonne, Centre commercial Les Rivières and Complexe Pointe-Claire).

The issuer and the promoter were represented by a team from Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, led out of Montreal by Pierre Denis Leroux (structured finance and real estate), composed of Marc Laflèche, Martine Guimond, Karine Dumont, Marie-Hélène Rochefort, John Ross, Greg Turnbull, Jeff Dyck, Louis Montpellier (securities), Alain Lalonde, Stéphane Lalande (real estate), Katherine D. Latimer, Stephen J. Harmer, Wayne Kerrick, Yvan Morin (real estate), Jeffrey Goldenthal (banking), and Daniel Lacelle (tax). The syndicate of underwriters, made up of CIBC World Markets Inc. (as lead), Scotia Capital Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Valeurs mobilières Desjardins Inc. and Laurentian Bank Securities Inc., was represented by a team of lawyers from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, led out of Montreal by Norm A. Saibil (corporate finance and banking), composed of Richard W. Shannon and Michael Bantey (securities), Elizabeth A. Mitchell, Pierre B. Côté (structured finance and banking), Ian Taylor, Lise Fortier, Murray B. Shopiro (real estate), Brian M. Schneiderman (tax), John J. Tobin (tax and structured finance) and R. Andrew G. Harrison (commercial).