Great-West Lifeco Inc. announces an Equity Buyback for 20,000,000 shares, representing 2.03% of its issued share capital.
January 05, 2017 at 01:39 pm
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Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSX:GWO) announces a share repurchase program. Under the program, the company will repurchase up to 20,000,000 common shares, representing 2.03% of its share capital. The repurchases will be made through the facilities of the TSX and alternative Canadian trading systems or by such other means as may be permitted by the TSX or under applicable law, including private agreement purchases. The repurchased shares will be cancelled. The purpose of the bid is to mitigate the dilutive effect of stock options issued under the company’s stock option plan and for other capital management purposes. The daily repurchase restriction is 101,337 common shares, other than block purchase exceptions. The company also announced that it will enter into an automatic purchase plan with a broker in order to facilitate purchases of its common shares when the company would ordinarily not be permitted to make purchases due to regulatory restrictions or self-imposed blackout periods. The repurchases will be made by the company's broker based upon the parameters prescribed by the TSX and the terms of the parties' written agreement. Outside of these black-out periods, common shares may also be purchased in accordance with management's discretion. The bid will expire on January 8, 2018. As of December 23, 2016, the company had 986,398,335 issued and outstanding common shares.
Great-West Lifeco Inc. is an international financial services holding company. The Company has interests in life insurance, health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management and reinsurance businesses. Its segments include Canada, United States, Europe, and Capital and Risk Solutions. It operates in Canada, the United States and Europe under the brands Canada Life, Empower, and Irish Life. It operates through its subsidiaries, including The Canada Life Assurance Company (Canada Life), and Empower Annuity Insurance Company of America (Empower). Canada Life provides insurance and wealth management products and services in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Germany, and in Ireland through Irish Life. Empower provides retirement plans.