Element Financial Corporation Closes $173 million Bought Deal Equity Financing

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TORONTO, March 12, 2013 /CNW/ - Element Financial Corporation (TSX: EFN) ("Element" or the "Company"), one of North America's leading independent equipment finance companies, today announced the closing of its previously announced bought deal offering of common shares (the "Common Shares") at a price of $7.75 per Common Share (the "Offering").  The syndicate of underwriters, co-led by GMP Securities L.P., Barclays and BMO Capital Markets and including RBC Capital Markets, Cormark Securities Inc., Scotiabank, TD Securities Inc., National Bank Financial Inc. and Manulife Securities Incorporated, elected to exercise its over-allotment option in full, resulting in the issuance of 22,310,000 Common Shares for total gross proceeds of $172,902,500.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering to originate and finance, directly and indirectly, finance assets, including through the establishment of its previously announced new special purpose fund as a funding vehicle to complement Element's existing securitization and syndication arrangements.

The Common Shares issued pursuant to the Offering were qualified by a final prospectus dated March 6, 2013, which has been filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities in all Canadian provinces.  Copies of the prospectus may be obtained by visiting the SEDAR database on the Canadian Securities Administrators' web site at www.sedar.com.

The Common Shares have not been, nor will be, registered under the United States Securities Act of1933, as amended, or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons absent registration or applicable exemption from the registration requirement of such Act and applicable state securities laws. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

About Element Financial Corporation
With total assets of approximately $1.5 billion, Element Financial Corporation is one of North America's leading independent equipment finance companies.  Element operates across North America in three verticals of the equipment finance market - Element Capital provides large ticket equipment leasing, Element Finance serves the mid-ticket equipment finance market and Element Fleet provides vehicle fleet leasing and management solutions through the Company's TLS Fleet Management division.

Forward Looking Statements

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding the use of proceeds from the issuance.  Such statements are based on the current expectations and views of future events of Element's management.  In some cases the forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements.  The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release, including the use of proceeds from the issuance, may not occur and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Element, including risks regarding the equipment finance industry, economic factors and many other factors beyond the control of Element.  No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed.  Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information.  Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements or information.  Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Element undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE: Element Financial Corporation