The Bank of Nova Scotia Announces Common Share Offering

The Bank of Nova Scotia announced that a public offering of 30 million common shares, at a price of $50.25 per common share, for gross proceeds of $1,507,500,000. The Bank has agreed to sell the common shares to a syndicate of underwriters led by Scotia Capital Inc. on a bought deal basis. The Bank has granted to the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 3 million common shares at closing, which option is exercisable, in whole or in part, by the underwriters any time up to a date that is 30 days after the closing date. The maximum gross proceeds raised under the offering will be $1,658,250,000 should this option be exercised in full. Closing is expected to occur on or after February 9, 2012. The net proceeds will be used by the Bank to fund recently closed and previously announced acquisitions. The net proceeds from the sale of Scotia Centre, Calgary, together with the proceeds of this offering, the issuance of ten million common shares in the Banco Colpatria transaction and other actions, will significantly increase the Bank's Tier 1 capital. As a result, the Bank is confident that its Basel III Common Equity Tier 1 Capital ratio will exceed 7.0% in the first quarter of 2013.