Australian Banc Capital Securities Trust Closes Initial Public Offering

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES./

TORONTO, Dec. 17 /CNW/ - Connor, Clark & Lunn Capital Markets Inc. (the "Manager") is pleased to announce the closing of the initial public offering of Australian Banc Capital Securities Trust (the "Fund").  The Fund raised gross proceeds of $145,815,760 from the sale of 14 million Class A Units and 581,576 Class F Units, respectively, at a price of $10.00 per Unit. The Fund has granted to the agents an over-allotment option, exercisable for a period of 30 days from the closing date, to offer an additional 2.1 million Class A Units. The Class A Units are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") under the symbol AUZ.UN.  Class F Units will not be listed on a stock exchange but may be converted into Class A Units on a weekly basis.

The Fund's investment objectives are to (i) provide Unitholders with quarterly, tax-advantaged distributions consisting primarily of returns of capital and (ii) provide exposure to a portfolio consisting primarily of Capital Securities issued by the Big Four Australian Banks (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, and Westpac Banking Corporation). Based on current estimates, the Fund's initial distribution target is expected to be approximately $0.15 per Unit per quarter, consisting primarily of returns of capital, representing an initial yield on the Unit issue price of 6.0% per annum.

The Fund will not have a fixed distribution, but intends to make quarterly distributions based on the actual and expected distributions on the Capital Securities less the Fund's estimated expenses. Given that a portion of the Portfolio will be invested in floating rate Capital Securities, distributions will vary with changes in short term interest rates in Australia.

Connor, Clark & Lunn Capital Markets Inc. is the Manager of the Fund. The Manager also acts as the manager of Canadian Banc Capital Securities Trust, North American Financials Capital Securities Trust and HBanc Capital Securities Trust, and is part of the Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group, which is responsible for the investment of approximately $37 billion in financial assets as at September 30, 2010.

The Units were offered for sale by a syndicate of agents led by BMO Capital Markets, HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. and CIBC, and includes RBC Capital Markets, National Bank Financial Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., TD Securities Inc., GMP Securities L.P., Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd., Raymond James Ltd., Canaccord Genuity Corp., Desjardins Securities Inc., Dundee Securities Corporation, Mackie Research Capital Corporation and Wellington West Capital Markets Inc.

For further information:

For more information, please visit www.cclcapitalmarkets.com or contact:

Darren Cabral
Vice President
Connor, Clark & Lunn Capital Markets Inc.
[phone] or 1 [phone]
[email protected]