DBRS Confirms Ratings of Apex Trust Series A Notes at R-1 (high)

Dominion Bond Rating Service (“DBRS”) has today confirmed the rating of the Series A Bonds of Apex Trust (the “Trust”) at AAA. The Trust is a multi-seller, multi-asset conduit that will use the proceeds from the issuance of its notes to purchase a variety of assets or structured securities from sellers that have been pre-approved by DBRS.

The rating for the Series A Notes and Series A Bonds are based on the following factors:

(1) Credit enhancement levels will be consistent with similarly rated programs in Canada;

(2) Securities purchased by the Trust will be securities rated AAA. The Securitization Agent intends to mitigate credit volatility through the choice of underlying exposure types, priority of purchased tranches, and transactional features for the purchase of Securities. Although DBRS will evaluate the chosen Securities to ensure that each purchase is consistent with the rating of the Notes, DBRS will not require the Securitization Agent to choose among particular investments, based on relative levels of credit volatility or migration risk;

(3) The availability of a dynamic cash reserve account that will increase as the ratings on the underlying assets in the relatively unlikely event the Securities migrate from AAA;

(4) Program-wide investment guidelines that impose limits on the types of transactions funded by the Trust;

(5) The availability of liquidity lines for the Series A Notes in the event of a market disruption (provided that the pre-conditions to draw the liquidity have been met, the Series A Notes have been affirmed by DBRS, and the Securitization Agent has managed the maturity of the Series A Notes such that the amount of liquidity required is less than any limit provided for in the liquidity agreement);

(6) A required minimum credit rating of R-1 (middle) for liquidity lenders and AA (low) for credit enhancers, unless otherwise approved by DBRS;

(7) All transactions are reviewed by DBRS prior to admittance to the program; and

(8) The significant experience of the Securitization Agent and its principals in the management and structuring of securitization vehicles.