Capital Desjardins Completes IPO

On May 9, 2002, Capital Desjardins Inc. completed an initial public offering of $500 million 5.552 per cent series B senior notes due 2012 and $300 million 6.322 per cent series C senior notes due 2017. Capital Desjardins is a special purpose entity that forms part of the Mouvement des caisses Desjardins, Quebec’s leading financial institution and the sixth largest, in terms of assets, in Canada. The proceeds of the offering are to be used to increase the tier-two capital of the over eight hundred caisses that form the basis of the Mouvement des caisses Desjardins.

Capital Desjardins was represented by in-house counsel Gilles Lapierre, Caisse centrale Desjardins, and Guy Dallaire, Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec. Ogilvy Renault acted for Capital Desjardins and Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, with a team led by Paul Raymond, and assisted by Marie-France Nantel, Lindsay Matthews, Félix Duval and Eric Gelinas (tax). Steven Finley and Gregory Seward of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP were U.S. counsel to Capital Desjardins.

The underwriting syndicate was co-led by BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc. and Desjardins Securities Inc., and included RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., TD Securities Inc., Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., National Bank Financial Inc. and Laurentian Bank Securities Inc. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP acted for the underwriters, with a team composed of Robert Paré, Gilles Leclerc, Marie-Josée Neveu, François-Bernard Poulin and Alain Ranger (tax).