Ottawa Airport Issues $270M in Bonds

On May 24, 2002, Ottawa International Airport Authority completed a $270 million issue of airport revenue bonds to finance its $310 million airport expansion programme. The financing structure is based on the innovative Canadian revenue bond initially developed by RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP for financing the $3 billion capital requirements of NAV CANADA upon its acquisition of the Canadian air navigation system. The bonds were sold in two series, a five-year bullet and a 30-year amortizer, by way of fully marketed private placement to institutional investors. The offering was underwritten by RBC Capital Markets Inc. and CIBC World Markets Inc.
The financing effort on behalf of the airport was directed in-house by CFO John Weerdenburg, and general counsel Annette Nicholson. Guy David of Gowlings in Ottawa led the airport’s external team, which included Wayne Warren and Riccardo D’Angelo (corporate and securities), Pierre-Paul Henrie (trust indenture), Wayne Kerrick (real estate) and Carole Chouinard (tax). Pierre Lissoir of Gowlings in Montreal, Brian Mainwaring in Calgary and Brett Kagetsu in Vancouver provided securities opinions in their respective provinces, as well as Mark Bursey of Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales in Nova Scotia and Garry Brickman, Q.C., of Thompson Dorfman Sweatman in Manitoba.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP represented the underwriters, with a team comprised of Jean Fraser, John Groenewegen and Alex Kilgour (corporate), George Valentini and Heather McKean (trust indenture and real estate) and David Tetreault and Lara Friedlander (tax).