TSX SYMBOLS: CEF.A and CEF.U AMEX SYMBOL: CEF TORONTO, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Central Fund of Canada Limited of Calgary, Alberta announced today that it has completed the sale of 8,640,000 Class A shares at U.S.$9.40 to CIBC World Markets Inc. and raised total gross proceeds of U.S.$81,216,000. The Class A shares were sold to investors primarily in Canada and in the United States, under the multijurisdictional disclosure system. The issue was completed at a price that was both non-dilutive and accretive to the net asset value of Class A shareholders prior to the issue. In addition, due to the Company's larger asset base resulting from this issue, the operating costs (expense ratio) are expected to be reduced on a per share basis for all Class A shareholders. In accordance with its investment policies, Central Fund has invested the net proceeds (after underwriter's commission and expenses of issue) in gold and silver bullion, with the balance of the net proceeds reserved for working capital and additional bullion purchases. The new total of issued and outstanding Class A shares of Central Fund of Canada Limited is 113,294,532. The investment holdings of Central Fund are now represented by approximately 732,716 fine ounces of gold, 36,630,054 ounces of silver and U.S.$21,356,880 primarily in cash for working capital and additional bullion purchases. A prospectus supplement dated December 1, 2006 to the short form base shelf prospectus dated September 29, 2006 with respect to the offering of Class A shares was filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of the U.S. prospectus supplement relating to the offering may be obtained from CIBC World Markets Corp., Prospectus Department, 425 Lexington Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, New York 10017, by fax at 212-667-6303, or by e-mail at . Copies of the Canadian prospectus supplement may be obtained from CIBC World Markets Inc., 161 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2S8, fax 416-594-7242. Central Fund of Canada Limited (est. 1961) is an exchange tradeable refined gold and silver bullion holding company. Class A shares are qualified for inclusion in many North American regulated accounts. Bullion holdings are stored on an unencumbered, allocated, segregated and insured basis in the treasury vaults of a major Canadian bank and are audited semi-annually in the presence of Central Fund's auditors and bank representatives. Class A shares are quoted on the AMEX, symbol CEF and the TSX, symbols CEF.A (Cdn. $) and CEF.U (U.S. $). Information regarding Central Fund of Canada Limited is available at http://www.centralfund.com/. DATASOURCE: Central Fund of Canada Ltd. CONTACT: J.C. Stefan Spicer, President and CEO at (905) 648-7878 or write to

Copyright