National Bank of Canada (the “Bank”) (TSX: NA) announced that the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions have approved the Bank’s normal course issuer bid to purchase for cancellation up to 7,000,000 of its common shares, representing approximately 2.07% of its 338,269,824 issued and outstanding common shares as at November 28, 2023.
The normal course issuer bid will be effective on December 12, 2023 and will end at the latest on December 11, 2024. It will provide the Bank with additional flexibility to manage capital.
Any 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 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 private purchase made under an exemption order issued by a securities regulatory authority will be at a discount to the prevailing market price.
National Bank Financial Inc. has been retained to act as the designated broker to repurchase Bank’s shares pursuant to the normal course issuer bid. The Bank could periodically establish automatic share purchase programs and define a prearranged set of criteria.
The actual number of common shares which may be purchased, and the timing of any such purchases, will be at the Bank’s discretion. The common shares acquired will be cancelled.
According to TSX’s requirements, the Bank is entitled to repurchase up to 390,625 common shares during the same trading day (other than purchases made pursuant to the block purchase exception), representing 25% of the average daily trading volume of its common shares over the last six completed calendar months, which is 1,562,503 common shares.
In its most recent normal course issuer bid launched on December 12, 2022, and which will end on December 11, 2023, the Bank hasn’t repurchased any common shares.