TORONTO (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 29, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said its ratings and outlook on Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS; AA-/Negative/A-1+) are unchanged following the bank's announced transaction with ING Bank of Canada (ING Canada). BNS today agreed to purchase ING Canada, a branchless bank operating in Canada that had C$39.8 billion of assets--representing only 6% of BNS' total assets--and C$30 billion of deposits as of June 30, 2012. The all-cash acquisition cost of C$1.9 billion is expected to be partly funded with a C$1.5 billion issuance of common stock. The total consideration is C$3.1 billion, which includes approximately C$1.2 billion of excess capital currently held by ING Canada. The bank expects the transaction to close in
