The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec acquires common shares of Rona inc.

MONTREAL, July 31, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec ("Caisse") announces that it has acquired, on the Toronto Stock Exchange, ownership and control over 2,428,000 common shares of Rona inc. [TSX: RON] ("Rona"), representing approximately 2% of Rona's currently outstanding common shares, at an average price of CA$14.1670 per share.

Prior to this acquisition, the Caisse held 14,786,000 common shares of Rona and, following the acquisition, the number of Rona's common shares held by the Caisse will be 17,214,000 or 14.18% of common shares outstanding.

This investment was made in the context of the announcement made today by Rona, according to which it has recently received an unsolicited acquisition proposal from Lowe's Companies, Inc.

The Caisse may modify its investment in Rona depending on market conditions or any other relevant factor.

This news release is issued in compliance with The Early Warning System pertaining to the applicable securities regulations which requires investors, including the Caisse, to issue and file a news release and a report, notably, when they acquire an additional 2% of the outstanding securities of a reporting issuer in which they hold more than 10% of its voting shares, such as is the case with the investment of the Caisse in Rona.

A copy of this news release and the early warning report will be filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities and will be available on SEDAR's website (www.sedar.com) or by contacting the person mentioned below.

SOURCE CAISSE DE DEPOT ET PLACEMENT DU QUEBEC