National Bank of Canada (the “Bank”) (TSX: NA) today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a normal course issuer bid to purchase for cancellation up to 6,000,000 of its common shares, representing approximately 1.8% of its 335,191,028 issued and outstanding common shares as at May 27, 2019. This normal course issuer bid is subject to the approval of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (“OSFI”) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”).
It is expected that this normal course issuer bid will begin on or around June 10, 2019 and will end at the latest on or around June 9, 2020. The purchases will be made through the facilities of the TSX and/or any alternative trading system in Canada. The Bank will pay the market price for the common shares at the time of acquisition and the purchases will be made in accordance with the TSX Company Manual and applicable regulatory requirements. Common shares may also be repurchased through other means permitted by applicable securities laws, including by private agreements or share repurchase programs pursuant to issuer bid exemption orders issued by securities regulatory authorities. Any purchase made under an exemption order issued by a securities regulatory authority will be at a discount to the prevailing market price.
The Bank intends to periodically establish automatic programs under which its broker, National Bank Financial Inc., would repurchase the Bank’s shares pursuant to the normal course issuer bid within a defined set of criteria which the Bank would not modify. The Bank will only make purchases under the bid after notifying OSFI. The actual number of common shares to be purchased, and the timing of any such purchases, will be determined by the Bank. The common shares acquired pursuant to the normal course issuer bid will be cancelled.
The normal course issuer bid will provide the Bank with additional flexibility to manage capital and generate value for shareholders.
Under the current normal course issuer bid, from June 6, 2018 to June 5, 2019, the Bank has purchased 6,547,200 of its common shares on a possibility of 8,000,000 through TSX and/or any alternative trading system in Canada at an average price of $61.88 for a total amount of 405 million dollars.