(February 21 – 16:30 ET) – Sun Life Financial Services of Canada Inc. has filed its preliminary prospectus with all of the Canadian securities commissions for its initial public offering of approximately 143.5 million common shares, initiating the final phase of the demutualization of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada.

The preliminary prospectus will be filedwith the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, February 22, 2000.

A price range of between C $12.00 and C$15.00 per share is currently anticipated, which would result in an offering ranging from approximately C$1.72 billion to C$2.15 billion. All of the shares will be sold by eligible policyholders or will be issued to finance, in effect, the purchase of shares from eligible policyholders or the payment of cash or policy credits to eligible policyholders. Sun Life Financial will not receive any net proceeds from the IPO, unless over-allotment options expected to be granted to the underwriters of the offering are exercised.

Sun Life of Canada’s demutualization is targeted for completion during the week of March 20, 2000 and the closing of the IPO is scheduled for the following week. The offering will be sold through a syndicate of underwriters jointly led by Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated and RBC Dominion Securities Inc.

Based on the currently anticipated size of the offering, the IPO will accommodate all of the cash elections of eligible policyholders. More than 35 per cent of the approximately 400 million shares to be issued to eligible policyholders in Sun Life’s demutualization will be sold in the IPO. Eligible policyholders who elected the cash option, can expect to have payment mailed within two weeks following the closing of the IPO.
-IE Staff