TORONTO, May 8, 2019 /CNW/ - Sun Life Financial Inc. (the
"Company") (TSX: SLF) (NYSE: SLF) announced today that,
subject to the approval of the Office of the Superintendent of
Financial Institutions and the Toronto Stock Exchange (the
"TSX"), it intends to amend its existing normal course
issuer bid ("NCIB") to increase the number of its common
shares that it may purchase for cancellation from 14 million common
shares (representing approximately 2.36% of the 593,387,971 common
shares issued and outstanding as of April
30, 2019) to 18 million common shares (representing
approximately 3.03% of the 593,387,971 common shares issued and
outstanding as of April 30, 2019). To
date, the Company has completed the purchase and cancellation of 14
million common shares since the commencement of its current
NCIB.
Continuing to have a NCIB in place will provide the Company with
the flexibility to acquire common shares in order to return capital
to shareholders as part of its overall capital management
strategy.
The Company's current NCIB commenced on August 14, 2018 and will continue until
August 13, 2019, or such earlier date
as the Company completes its purchases. Purchases under the amended
NCIB will continue to be made through the facilities of the TSX,
other Canadian stock exchanges and/or alternative Canadian trading
platforms, at prevailing market rates. Purchases under the amended
NCIB may also be made by way of private agreements or share
repurchase programs under issuer bid exemption orders issued by
securities regulatory authorities. Any purchases made under an
exemption order issued by a securities regulatory authority will
generally be at a discount to the prevailing market price. The
actual number of common shares purchased under the amended NCIB,
and the timing of such purchases (if any), will be determined by
the Company. Any common shares purchased by the Company pursuant to
the amended NCIB will be cancelled.
The Company previously implemented an automatic repurchase plan
with its designated broker in order to facilitate purchases of
common shares under its current NCIB. Such automatic repurchase
plan will continue to apply to the amended NCIB. Under the
automatic repurchase plan, which was pre-cleared by the TSX, the
Company's designated broker may purchase common shares pursuant to
the Company's NCIB at times when the Company ordinarily would not
be active in the market due to regulatory restrictions or
self-imposed blackout periods. Each purchase made pursuant to the
automatic repurchase plan will be made by the Company's designated
broker based upon the parameters prescribed by the TSX, applicable
Canadian securities laws and the terms of the written agreement
between the Company and its designated broker. The automatic
repurchase plan constitutes an "automatic plan" for purposes of
applicable Canadian securities legislation.
Forward-Looking Statements
From time to time, the
Company makes written or oral forward-looking statements within the
meaning of certain securities laws, including the "safe harbour"
provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation.
Forward-looking statements contained in this news release include
statements (i) relating to the potential amendment of the Company's
current NCIB; (ii) regarding future purchases of common shares
under the amended NCIB (including under the automatic repurchase
plan); (iii) that are predictive in nature or that depend upon
or refer to future events or conditions; and (iv) that include
words such as "achieve", "aim", "ambition", "anticipate",
"aspiration", "assumption", "believe", "could", "estimate",
"expect", "goal", "initiatives", "intend", "may", "objective",
"outlook", "plan", "project", "seek", "should", "strategy",
"strive", "target", "will" and similar expressions. The
forward-looking statements made in this news release are stated as
at May 8, 2019, represent the
Company's current expectations, estimates and projections regarding
future events and are not historical facts. These statements are
not a guarantee of future performance and involve assumptions and
risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Some of
these assumptions and risks and uncertainties are described further
in the Company's management's discussion and analysis for the year
ended December 31, 2018 under the
heading "Forward-looking Statements", in the risk factors set out
in the Company's annual information form for the year ended
December 31, 2018 under the heading
"Risk Factors", in the other factors detailed in the Company's
annual and interim financial statements and in the Company's other
filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators, which are
available for review at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov,
respectively. Actual results may differ materially from those
expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements
and there is no assurance that the Company's current NCIB will be
amended.
The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or
revise its forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date of this news release or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.
About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a
leading international financial services organization providing
insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and
corporate Clients. Sun Life Financial has operations in a number of
markets worldwide, including Canada, the United
States, the United Kingdom,
Ireland, Hong Kong, the
Philippines, Japan,
Indonesia, India, China,
Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of March
31, 2019, Sun Life Financial had total assets under
management of $1,011 billion. For
more information please visit www.sunlife.com.
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New
York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the
ticker symbol SLF.
Note to Editors: All figures in Canadian dollars.
Media Relations
Contact:
|
Investor Relations
Contact:
|
Krista
Wilson
|
Greg
Dilworth
|
Director
|
Vice-President
|
Corporate
Communications
|
Investor
Relations
|
T. 519-888-3900 ext.
341-4896
|
T.
416-979-6230
|
krista.wilson@sunlife.com
|
investor.relations@sunlife.com
|
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SOURCE Sun Life Financial Inc.