TransactionsEquitable Group Inc. Issues $50 Million of Non-Cumulative 5-year Rate Reset Preferred SharesPublished: 09/15/2009 By Angela Chu, Lindsay Clements, Tom Koutoulakis, Christopher B. Norton, Lawrence D. Wilder On September 1, 2009, Equitable Group Inc. announced that it had successfully raised total proceeds of $50 million by way of a bought deal prospectus offering and private placement offering. A total of 2,000,000 Non-Cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series 1 of Equitable were sold at a price of $25.00 per share. Of the shares issued, 1,640,000 were placed on a bought deal basis with a group of underwriters led by National Bank Financial Inc. and GMP Securities L.P. The bought deal raised gross proceeds of $41 million, which included the concurrent exercise of the over-allotment option. Equitable sold the remaining shares on a private placement basis to Canadian Western Bank. Equitable used the total proceeds from the offerings to acquire Non-Cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series 1 from its wholly-owned subsidiary, The Equitable Trust Company, which qualify as Tier 1 capital for Equitable Trust. Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP advised Equitable with a team that included Lawrence Wilder (Securities), Alison Manzer (Financial Services), Christopher Norton (Tax), Tom Koutoulakis (Securities), Lindsay Clements (Securities) and Angela Chu (Securities). |