More shares will be available for sale and all investors will have the chance to express their interest in making a purchase

Montréal, March 25, 2015 – Québec investors interested in buying shares of Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins (CRCD) will enjoy a new centralized appointment planning process that facilitates request management. They will have three weeks to submit a request for an appointment using a secure online form, available around the clock from 8:00 a.m. on April 20 to May 8 at midnight. Investors who do not have Internet access will be able to go to the caisse of their choice where an employee will help them fill out the form. In filling out the form, investors must choose the intended amount of their subscription and select the caisse where they wish to have their appointment. To subscribe for shares of CRCD, it is not necessary to be or to become a member of a Desjardins caisse.

At the end of the registration period, if demand for the shares exceeds the authorized capitalization amount of $150 million, appointments will be assigned to investors selected at random from the pool of all those who have completed the online form. The investors selected will be offered an appointment starting May 25, 2015 to make a formal application for subscription and verify that the product is suitable for their situation. Investors who have not been selected will be informed by letter or email starting May 25, 2015.

“Under the independent supervision of the Desjardins Group Monitoring Office and based on the data entered in the online form, a random list will be created that determines the order in which appointments will be assigned,” noted Marie-Claude Boisvert, Chief Operating Officer of Desjardins Business Capital régional et coopératif. “We listened to our shareholders. Demand for shares of CRCD has outstripped supply for several years, so it seemed sensible for us to reconsider the ‘first come, first served’ approach. That way, the probability of being selected for an appointment is the same for all investors regardless of when they complete the form, the desired amount of their subscription or their choice of caisse.”

To access the online form and learn more about the 2015 CRCD share subscription, click on www.desjardins.com/2015crcd.

More shares available for sale, accessible to more investors

While the amount of shares available in 2014 was limited to $63 million, shares for sale in 2015 will total $150 million, in accordance with the decision announced under the provincial budget tabled on June 4, 2014. Since the 2014 issue, the annual maximum subscription amount per person has been reduced from $5,000 to $3,000 to allow as many investors as possible to purchase shares of CRCD. This means that for the 2015 issue, a minimum of 50,000 investors will be able to subscribe for shares, compared with 22,000 last year. Purchases of CRCD shares are eligible for a provincial tax credit of 45%, which represents a maximum amount of $1,350.

About Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins

With some 96,000 shareholders and $1,502 million in net assets, Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins (CRCD) is a public company managed by Desjardins Business Capital régional et coopératif. CRCD contributes to Québec economic development through several levers developed with its manager, with CRCD as the driving force. These levers form CRCD’s entrepreneurial ecosystem designed to value and nurture the best of Québec entrepreneurship. Directly or indirectly through its ecosystem, CRCD supports the growth of over 380 businesses, cooperatives and funds in various industries spanning all Québec regions, helping to create and retain 62,000 jobs. (www.capitalregional.com)