TORONTO, May 13, 2019 /CNW/ - Sun Life Financial Inc. (the
"Company") (TSX: SLF) (NYSE: SLF) announced today that it
has received approvals from the Office of the Superintendent of
Financial Institutions and the Toronto Stock Exchange (the
"TSX") to amend its normal course issuer bid 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) (the "NCIB"). The effective date of
the amendment is May 14, 2019. To
date, the Company has completed the purchase and cancellation of 14
million common shares since the commencement of the NCIB.
Continuing to have a normal course issuer bid 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 NCIB will continue until August 13,
2019, or such earlier date as the Company may determine or
as the Company completes its purchases. The average daily trading
volume on the TSX for the six months ending July 31, 2018 was 1,028,480 common shares. In
accordance with the TSX rules, the Company may purchase up to 25%
of that number each trading day, subject to the TSX rules
permitting block purchases.
Purchases under the NCIB may 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
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 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
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 the NCIB. Such automatic repurchase plan will
continue to apply to the 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 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) regarding future purchases of common shares under
the NCIB (including under the automatic repurchase plan); (ii) that
are predictive in nature or that depend upon or refer to future
events or conditions; and (iii) 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 13,
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 any common shares will be purchased under the NCIB
(including under the automatic repurchase plan).
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
Sun Life is a leading international
financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and
asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun
Life 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 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.