(April 18 – 09:30 ET) – Laurentian Bank of Canada still intends to spin out its B2B Trust arm, but it wants to wait until the market is more receptive.

The Canadian initial public offering market is virtually dead right now, with numerous deals pulled or delayed. Laurentian and B2B announced they’ve filed an amended and restated preliminary prospectus with securities regulators and with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada relating to B2B Trust’s proposed IPO. “The objective of the filing is to enable B2B Trust to present first quarter financial information to investors and to proceed with the proposed offering when more favourable market conditions exist.”

The offering will be underwritten by a syndicate of investment dealers led by Scotia Capital Inc. and including Laurentian Bank Securities Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and Dundee Securities Corporation.

B2B Trust is a regulated financial institution and technological infrastructure company that supplies banking and financial products to independent financial advisors and retailers across Canada.