News

• Acquisition accelerates growth, plus diversification of funding and revenue for Canada's Challenger Bank™
• Acquired assets under management (AUM) of $13.6 billion and $38.6 billion in assets under administration (AUA) adds significant scale
• Combination enhances service offering, improves financial strength, and benefits Concentra Bank's customers, employees, and community partners
• Provides a strong growth platform to serve Credit Unions
• Equitable Bank becomes Canada's 7th largest independent Canadian bank by assets, directly and indirectly serving more than 5 million Canadians
• Better positions Equitable Bank as a challenger to traditional alternatives by adding talent, customer and partner relationships that will allow us to better serve our purpose of driving change in Canadian banking to enrich people's lives

TORONTO, Nov. 1, 2022 /CNW/ - Equitable Bank (the "Bank", "Canada's Challenger Bank™" or "Equitable"), a wholly owned subsidiary of EQB Inc. ("EQB") (TSX: EQB) (TSX: EQB.PR.C), today announced it has completed the acquisition of Concentra Bank (the "Acquisition") for a premium of $35.7 million to its $459.7 million book value of common equity, subject to final standard closing purchase price adjustments.

"The addition of Concentra Bank brings immediate scale, diversification, and reach to Canada's Challenger Bank^TM and will benefit all stakeholders as we use our combined advantages to grow, innovate and enhance our offerings in keeping with our proven value creation method," said Andrew Moor, President and CEO.  "We are particularly excited to use our financial capacity and industry-leading technology capabilities to add value to our Credit Union partners across the country in ways that will support the important role they play in the lives of millions of Canadians.  This is a proud day for all of us, and thanks to great preparation over the past few months, we will move with speed, care and purpose to achieve our ambitions."

A portion of Equitable's payment for the Acquisition was financed with the net proceeds from the issuance in February 2022 of approximately $230 million of underwritten subscription receipts (the "Subscription Receipts") of EQB pursuant to a prospectus supplement dated February 9, 2022 to the EQB base shelf prospectus dated June 12, 2020.

Upon closing of the Acquisition, the common shares of EQB issuable pursuant to the 3,266,000 Subscription Receipts were automatically issued through the facilities of CDS Clearing and Depository Services Inc. in accordance with the terms of the Subscription Receipts, as applicable, on a one-for-one basis.  This issuance of common shares increased the number of EQB's outstanding common shares to approximately 37.5 million.

As per established TSX guidelines, trading in the Subscription Receipts on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") (TSX: EQB.R) will be halted effective prior to opening of trading on the TSX today and the Subscription Receipts will be delisted as at the close of business today.  The transfer register maintained by the subscription receipt agent for the Subscription Receipts will be closed as at the close of business today.  

"With strong Board and executive sponsorship, and the dedication of our combined workforce of now approximately 1,800 challengers, the integration of Concentra Bank is expected to be customer focused, risk managed and accretive," said Chadwick Westlake, Chief Financial Officer.  "Thanks to the integration work that commenced in February, we are confident that the financial benefits and synergies we identified at the outset will be achieved on the terms and timing originally envisioned.  We look forward to sharing more of this guidance with investors as part of our EQB Q3 2022 results on November 8th."

Please refer to the press release and investor presentation dated February 7, 2022 for additional details on the Acquisition and the press release dated September 29, 2022 regarding the Minister of Finance approval in September.

EQB Inc. trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: EQB and EQB.PR.C) and serves more than 360,000 Canadians through its wholly owned subsidiary Equitable Bank, Canada's Challenger Bank™.  Equitable Bank has a clear mandate to drive change in Canadian banking to enrich people's lives.  Founded over 50 years ago, Equitable Bank provides diversified personal and commercial banking and through its EQ Bank platform (eqbank.ca) has been named the top Schedule I Bank in Canada on the Forbes World's Best Banks 2022 and 2021 lists.  Please visit equitablebank.ca for details.

Statements made in the sections of this news release, in other filings with Canadian securities regulators and in other communications include forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws (forward-looking statements).  These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the Bank's objectives, strategies and initiatives, financial performance expectations and other statements made herein, whether with respect to the Bank's businesses or the Canadian economy.  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 which state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved", or other similar expressions of future or conditional verbs.  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 Bank to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to risks related to capital markets and additional funding requirements, business integration risks, fluctuating interest rates and general economic conditions, legislative and regulatory developments, changes in accounting standards, the nature of our customers and rates of default, and competition as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Management" in the MD&A and in the Bank's documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.  All material assumptions used in making forward-looking statements are based on management's knowledge of current business conditions and expectations of future business conditions and trends, including their knowledge of the current credit, interest rate and liquidity conditions affecting the Bank and the Canadian economy.  Although the Bank believes the assumptions used to make such statements are reasonable at this time and has attempted to identify in its continuous disclosure documents 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.  Certain material assumptions are applied by the Bank in making forward-looking statements, including without limitation, assumptions regarding its continued ability to fund its mortgage business, a continuation of the current level of economic uncertainty that affects real estate market conditions, continued acceptance of its products in the marketplace, as well as no material changes in its operating cost structure and the current tax regime.  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 Bank does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE EQB Inc.