Capital Dejardins Establishes Shelf Program and Completes Offering

On March 9, 2004, Capital Desjardins Inc. filed a short form base shelf prospectus providing for the issuance of an aggregate principal amount of up to $2 billion senior notes. On March 17, Capital Desjardins completed an offering of $450 million series D senior notes maturing on March 17, 2014, issued under that program. Capital Desjardins' purpose is limited to offering its securities in the financial markets and to using the proceeds to acquire securities of the caisses that form the basis of the Mouvement des caisses Desjardins. Net proceeds resulting from the issuance of the senior notes will be used to improve the capital base of the caisses and the network capital base of the Federation des caisses Desjardins du Québec and the caisses. BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and Desjardins Securities Inc. led the dealer syndicate for the offering, which included RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., TD Securities Inc., Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., National Bank Financial, Casgrain & Company Ltd., Laurentian Bank Securities Inc. and Société Générale Securities Inc.

The issuer was represented by Ogilvy Renault in Montreal, with a team that included Paul Raymond, Marie-France Nantel, Lindsay Matthews and Elliot Greenstone (corporate finance and securities), Éric Gélinas (tax) and Alain Ricard (banking). The dealers were represented by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Montreal, with a team that included Robert Paré, Gilles Leclerc, Mireille Tremblay, Ali Martin-Mayer and Alain Ranger (tax) and Angela Onesi (banking).