Capital Desjardins

Capital Desjardins, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec, was established in 1995.

Its sole purpose is to offer its own securities in the financial markets and to invest the proceeds in securities issued by Desjardins caisses. The caisses may issue capital to raise liquidity. Rather than doing this on an individual basis, the caisses do business with Capital Desjardins which acts as a bridge between the Desjardins caisses and institutional investors by consolidating the securities they issue.

Capital Desjardins receives top credit ratings for its securities:

Moody's A2
Standard & Poor's A
DBRS AA (basse)
Fitch A+

The first issue, amounting to US$200 million, was launched in 1995 in the US institutional market. In 2002, Capital Desjardins proceeded with a record public issue of $800 million in subordinated debentures in the Canadian markets.

In 2004, Capital Desjardins proceeded with a $450 million issuance of senior notes with Canadian investors. This issuance was the first to be made under the terms of a short-form prospectus that allows the issuance of senior notes up to a maximum of $2 billion over a period not to exceed 25 months.

The assets of Capital Desjardins consist of securities issued by the caisses. Its liabilities correspond to the securities the company has issued on the markets.

To learn more about Capital Desjardins, see Investor Relations.