America Online Inc announced Tuesday that the Royal Bank of Canada has taken a 20% equity stake in its AOL Canada Inc subsidiary in exchange for $60m. As part of the deal, Royal Bank and its US-based subsidiaries Security First Network Bank, an internet bank, and Bull & Bear Securities, an online brokerage, have committed to marketing agreements across AOL properties in the US and Canada totaling more than $7.5m.
AOL Canada says it will use the investment to accelerate growth and fund its planned roll-out of broadband services. In addition, it will work with Royal Bank on secure online payment and other e-commerce initiatives and market Security First and Bull & Bear services to the 130,000 AOL users. AOL Canada claims 130,000 members, while CompuServe Canada has about 50,000.
