BCE announces specific share repurchase program as part of its Normal Course Issuer Bid

MONTRÉAL, Feb. 25,2018, /thetoptwo/ – BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE) (NYSE: BCE) announced today that it will buy back common shares under a certain repurchase program (the “Program”). BCE reached an agreement to buy back the common shares from a third-party via daily purchases that are slated to happen from February 28, 2018, and March 30, 2018, up until a limit of 3,169,000 common shares that is dependent on an aggregate purchase price of $175 million) and with the condition that no purchases of common shares under the program occur when BCE is in a blackout period. The program will entail a section of BCE’s Normal Course Issuer Bid (the “NCIB”) which was announced on the 8th of February, 2018.

In line with the terms of the agreement, and depending on the terms of an issuer bid exemption order issued by the Ontario Securities Commissions (the “Order”), the third party will buy the BCE common shares from the Canadian market in view of carrying out their delivery responsibility as agreed under the terms of the BCE agreement. The price to be paid for the common shares by the BCE will be subject to negotiation by the third party and the BCE and the BCE common shares will be sold at a discounted rate relative to the actual BCE price as at the time of purchase in the Canadian market.

In line with the terms of the Order and Agreement, any third-party purchases made either by them or via an agent on the Canadian or TSX markets will be subject to the TSX rules applicable to the NCIB, subject to certain cases as stated in the order. Furthermore, BCE and any other non-independent purchasing agent working on their behalf are banned from buying any other common shares for the entire duration of the program. BCE will own common shares via the third party in line with the agreement as part of the NCIB and such common shares will be nullified after purchase by the BCE. In line with the terms of the Order, once the program has ended, a press release will be issued by the BCE that will announce the end of the program and state the number of common shares that was acquired for the duration of the program and the aggregate dollar amount paid for such common shares.