Equitable Group Inc. Announcement
TSX Symbols: ETC and ETC.PR.A
TORONTO, Aug. 23, 2011 /CNW/ - Equitable Group Inc. ("Equitable" or the
"Company") today announced that it has become aware of a suspected
fraud relating to four loans having a total outstanding balance of
approximately $14.0 million. The amount of the total loss, if any,
cannot be determined at this time. The matter is presently being
investigated with a view to minimizing any potential losses to the
Company.
Equitable is currently reviewing its legal options for commencing claims
against several parties to the subject loan transactions and is
consulting with legal counsel in this regard. In addition, Equitable
maintains insurance that is intended to cover such occurrences. There
is no assurance that the proceeds or recoveries, if any, will be
received in a timely manner, or that such proceeds or recoveries will
be sufficient to recover the full amount of the loans.
ABOUT EQUITABLE GROUP INC.
Equitable Group Inc. is a niche mortgage lender. Our core business is
first charge mortgage financing, which we offer through our wholly
owned subsidiary, The Equitable Trust Company. Founded in 1970,
Equitable Trust is a federally incorporated trust company. It serves
single family, small and large commercial borrowers and their mortgage
advisors. It also serves the investing public as a provider of
Guaranteed Investment Certificates. Equitable is active in providing
GICs across all Canadian provinces and territories. We actively
originate mortgages in Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba. Equitable Group's
shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols ETC
and ETC.PR.A. Visit the Company on line at www.equitablegroupinc.com or www.equitabletrust.com.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, including
statements found in the management commentary above. Generally,
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not
expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "planned", "estimates",
"forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or
"believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that
certain actions, events or results "may" ,"could", "would", "might" or
"will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements
are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause the actual results, level of activity, closing of
transactions, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the Company's
ability to make a successful claim for the above loss under its
insurance in a timely manner or at all, the Company's ability to
successfully recover damages from other parties to the subject
transaction in a timely manner or at all, the timing of the receipt of
such insurance proceeds or damages, risks related to capital markets and additional funding requirements,
fluctuating interest rates and general economic conditions, legislative
and regulatory developments, the nature of our customers and rates of
default, and competition as well as those factors discussed in the
Company's documents filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in
forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause
results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be
no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual
results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place
undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not
undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are contained
herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. See the
Company's continuous disclosure documents for further information on
forward-looking statements.