Cognicase

On February 1, 2000, COGNICASE Inc. entered into an agreement with National Bank of Canada (National Bank) providing for the acquisition by COGNICASE of 100 per cent of the shares of SIBN Inc., the information services/information technology subsidiary of National Bank. In consideration for the acquisition of SIBN and a cash payment by National Bank to COGNICASE of $20 million, COGNICASE will be issuing to National Bank approximately 9.3 million common shares, representing approximately 35 per cent of the outstanding shares of COGNICASE, making National Bank the largest shareholder of COGNICASE. In addition, COGNICASE will become the preferred information technology supplier to National Bank and its affiliates for ten years, representing potential revenues for COGNICASE of $1.2 billion over this period.

Ogilvy Renault lawyers Francis R. Legault, Paul Raymond and Solomon Sananes are acting for COGNICASE with COGNICASE General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Benoit Dubé. National Bank is represented by a team of lawyers from Montreal’s Desjardins Ducharme Stein Monast led by Gérard Coulombe, André Vautour and Marc Beauchemin.