Norton Rose advises RBC on first-ever covered bond issue with SEC
September 17, 2012

Bloomberg and Reuters report on Norton Rose Canada advising Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in the first-ever issue of covered bonds registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Norton Rose team—led by senior partner Andrew Fleming and partner Eric Reither—is assisting RBC in-house counsel Erin Dion and Joseph Hillier. The Norton Rose team also includes partner Peter Noble and associate Matthew Lippa on corporate finance and securities; and partner Adrienne Oliver and associate Glenn Hines on tax.

The deal is worth US$2.5 billion and is AAA-rated for five years at 1.2%. It is the first time that publicly traded US$ covered bonds were available to individual investors. Demand was double the average and this clearly indicates this is a promising market for affordable financing for the banks.

The deal was launched on September 13, 2012, and will close September 19, 2012.