The Caisse completes US$5B initial global debt offering under new refinancing program

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec today announced that through its subsidiary CDP Financial, it has completed a US$5 billion initial global debt offering under its new refinancing program.

The offering includes three tranches of debt securities:

• US$2B 3.00% 5-year senior notes
• US$1.75B 4.40% 10-year senior notes
• US$1.25B 5.60% 30-year senior notes

This is the largest non-government guaranteed offering by any Canadian issuer in US dollars to date.

The proceeds of this refinancing program will be used to replace certain short-term debt with longer term debt, thus better matching the duration of the Caisse’s sources and uses of financing, and increasing the stability of financing sources. This program will not increase the total leverage of the Caisse. As announced earlier this year, the Caisse’s goal is to continue to reduce its use of leverage.

Depending on market conditions, the program – including the US$5B initial debt offering transaction completed today – could raise up to Cdn$8B in total. In the context of this program, CDP Financial does not intend to issue notes in the Canadian market until 2010.

Legal notice
Notes offered under the refinancing program will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and accordingly may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons, except pursuant to an applicable exemption from registration. This press release is not an offer of the notes for sale in the United States. In Canada, the notes will only be offered to accredited investors as such term is defined under applicable Canadian securities laws. This press release is not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States.

About the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is a financial institution that manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans. At December 31, 2008, it held $120.1 billion of net assets. As one of the leading institutional fund managers in Canada, the Caisse invests in the main financial markets as well as in private equity and real estate. For more information:  www.cdpq.com.