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Alberta & Prairies  + Canada + Quebec  + Office  | 
Photo of Canadian Western Bank's headquarters in Edmonton.

National Bank Completes $5B Purchase of CWB

National Bank has closed on its acquisition of Edmonton-based Canadian Western Bank for about $5 billion in an all-stock deal.

In conjunction with the completion, National Bank announced that Chris Fowler, Canadian Western Bank’s president and CEO, will retire on March 1. He will remain as an executive advisor to Laurent Ferreira, National Bank’s president and CEO, until April 30.

The acquisition’s has widespread commercial real estate implications in terms of National Bank expanding its geographical footprint and investors gaining greater access to capital, among other factors.

“This transaction will allow us to deliver a stronger banking choice for all Canadians and Canadian businesses,” said Ferreira. “Our combined organization will provide customers with an expanded product and service offering nationally, while maintaining regional expertise.

“Thanks to CWB’s established roots in Western Canada, National Bank is expanding its operations. We will pull strengths from our collective network and further extend the depth and breadth of our banking capabilities.”

National Bank will maintain CWB’s head office in Edmonton and has added two members, Sarah Morgan-Silvester and Irfhan Rawji, from CWB to its board.

Morgan-Silvester formerly chaired CWB’s board. She is a former executive vice-president of HSBC Bank Canada and the former president and CEO of HSBC Trust. Rawji is managing partner at Relay Ventures, which is an early-stage venture-capital firm, and multi-asset-class investment firm Realize Capital Partners.

In conjunction with the acquisition, National Bank completed a $1-billion equity financing in January.

And, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) agreed to invest $500 million in National Bank.

Photo: Canadian Western Bank

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About Monte Stewart

Monte Stewart serves as Content Director - Canada for Connect Commercial Real Estate. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Monte provides daily news coverage of major Canadian commercial real estate markets, including Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. He has written about the real estate sector for various media outlets and Avison Young since the early 2000s. In addition, he has covered sports, general news and business for several leading wire services and publications, including The Canadian Press, The Associated Press, The Calgary Herald, The Globe and Mail, Research Money, The Daily Oil Bulletin, Natural Gas World and The Toronto Star. Monte is active in his community as a youth basketball coach and raises funds for such charitable causes as Movember.

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