TORONTO, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ – Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX: SLF) (NYSE: SLF) (the “Company” or “Sun Life”) announced today that the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) have approved the renewal of the Company’s previously announced normal course issuer bid to purchase up to 15,000,000 of its common shares (“common shares”) (representing approximately 2.6% of the 577,567,842 common shares issued and outstanding as at August 20, 2024) (the “NCIB”).
The NCIB 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 commence on August 29, 2024 and continue until August 28, 2025, such earlier date as the Company may determine, or such date as the Company completes its purchases of common shares pursuant to the NCIB. The average daily trading volume on the TSX for the six months ending July 31, 2024 was 2,108,275 common shares (the “ADTV”). In accordance with the TSX rules, the Company may purchase up to 527,068 of its common shares on the TSX during any trading day, which represents 25% of the ADTV, 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. Subject to regulatory approval, 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 or used in connection with certain equity settled incentive arrangements.
The Company has established an automatic repurchase plan with its designated broker in order to facilitate purchases of common shares under the NCIB. Under the automatic repurchase plan, 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 its own internal trading blackout periods, insider trading rules or otherwise. Purchases made pursuant to the automatic repurchase plan, if any, 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 and has been pre-cleared by the TSX.
Under its prior normal course issuer bid (the “Prior NCIB”), which commenced on August 29, 2023 and expires on August 28, 2024, the Company sought and received approval from the TSX to purchase up to 17,000,000 common shares. As of August 20, 2024, the Company had purchased 10,300,710 common shares under the Prior NCIB at a weighted average price of $69.40 per common share through the facilities of the TSX, other Canadian stock exchanges and/or alternative Canadian trading platforms.
Forward-Looking StatementsFrom 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) relating to the Company’s normal course issuer bid (including, but not limited to, statements 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 “intends”, “expects”, “will” and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements made in this news release are stated as at August 26, 2024, 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, 2023 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, 2023 under the heading “Risk Factors”, and in the Company’s interim management’s discussion and analysis for the quarter ended June 30, 2024 under the heading “Risk Management”, 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.sedarplus.ca 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 LifeSun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing asset management, wealth, insurance and health solutions to individual and institutional 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 June 30, 2024, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1.46 trillion. 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
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Media Relations Contact: |
Investor Relations Contact: |
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Kim Race |
David Garg |
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Director |
Senior Vice-President, Capital Management |
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Corporate Communications |
and Investor Relations |
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T. 416-779-4574 |
T. 416-408-8649 |
SOURCE Sun Life Financial Inc.