OMEIFA Completes Bond Offering

Ontario Municipal Economic Infrastructure Financing Authority (OMEIFA) completed in May 2003 its offering of more than $320 million of provincial tax exempt Ontario Opportunity Bonds. OMEIFA, a non-share capital corporation recently established by the Government of Ontario through a capital infusion of $1.12 billion, will use the proceeds to provide subsidized loans to municipalities to finance infrastructure projects.

The bonds were issued to the public in Ontario both directly by OMEIFA and by a group of underwriters that included BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., Canaccord Capital Corporation, CIBC World Markets Inc., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., Laurentian Bank Securities Inc., Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., Scotia Capital Inc. and TD Securities Inc.

OMEIFA was represented by in-house counsel Dermot Muir and Navin Katyal; by legal counsel Alexandra Raphael, Ontario Ministry of Finance; and by Connie Sugiyama, Henry Harris and Jason Saltzman (corporate securities), Lilly Wong and Hilda Wong (banking) and Gloria Geddes (tax) of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.

Lawyer(s)

Constance L. Sugiyama Jason A. Saltzman Hilda W. Wong Henry A. Harris Gloria J. Geddes Lilly A. Wong