Archive for June, 2011

MAPF Statements Delayed Due to Postal Lock-Out

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

The monthly client statements for Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund have been ready for a few days now – but the postal service isn’t!

I understand that back to work legislation is contemplated. One way or another, statements will be sent when services is back to normal.

In the interim, copies will be faxed on request. Should the cessation of service continue into July, other arrangements will be made for those clients who receive quarterly payments of their distributions.

The Unit Value of MAPF and the performance in May has been previously discussed.

BSC.PR.B Warrants Expiring Soon

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

BNS Split Corp. II has announced:

that it will be hosting an investor update conference call on Thursday, June 23, 2011, with Brian McChesney, President and CEO of Scotia Managed Companies Administration Inc. (the “Administrator”).

The conference call will provide an update on the Company’s performance. Investors and investment advisors are reminded that the Company currently has warrants outstanding which expire on July 7, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time). Note that investment dealers may have deadlines earlier than July 7, 2011.

Conference Call Details
Thursday, June 23 2011 at 11:00 a.m. (EST)
Featuring Brian McChesney, President and CEO of the Administrator
Dial-in Numbers: 416-340-2217 or 1-866-696-5910
Passcode: 3583283#

A replay of the conference call will be available at 905-694-9451 or 1-800-408-3053, passcode 3644732#.

Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Unit, each Unit consisting of two Capital Shares and one Preferred Share, for a subscription price of $50.84 per Unit. The warrants are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BSC.WT.

Holders of Preferred Shares are entitled to receive quarterly fixed cumulative distributions equal to $0.2003 per Preferred Share. The Company’s Capital Share dividend policy is to pay a quarterly dividend on the Capital Shares equal to the dividends received by the Company on the BNS Shares minus the dividends payable on the Preferred Shares and all administrative and operating expenses provided the net asset value per Unit at the time of declaration, after giving effect to the dividend, would be greater than the original issue price of the Preferred Shares.

BNS Split Corp. II is a mutual fund corporation created to hold a portfolio of common shares of The Bank of Nova Scotia.

BSC.PR.B was last discussed on PrefBlog when the warrants were issued. BSC.PR.B is not tracked by HIMIPref™.

June 15, 2011

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Greece is teetering:

Greek economic prospects darkened as European bickering risked delaying the next rescue payment and defections weakened Prime Minister George Papandreou’s majority.

An emergency session of euro finance chiefs in Brussels yesterday failed to break a deadlock on how to enroll investors in a second bailout without triggering a default, casting doubt on funds due from the International Monetary Fund next month.

“enroll investors without triggering a default”! Having thrown out bankruptcy law, the politicians are now working on commercial law!

The FRB-Kansas City has published a paper by Edward S. Knotek II and Shujaat Khan titled How Do Households Respond to Uncertainty Shocks? (they don’t):

Uncertainty surged during the financial crisis in 2008 and remained high through a considerable portion of the recovery into 2010. Since then, uncertainty has risen again due to the recent oil price spikes and the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Japan. This heightened uncertainty raises the question: How does it affect economic activity?

This article focuses on how households respond to uncertainty shocks—sudden, unexpected events that raise the possibility of extreme future outcomes, either good or bad. Economic theory predicts that household purchases would decline immediately following an uncertainty shock because households would find a value in waiting to make big, irreversible purchases to see how the uncertain environment plays out.

The empirical results, however, suggest that uncertainty shocks tend to curtail household spending only modestly. In some cases, these responses manifest themselves only after a considerable period. In addition, uncertainty shocks account for only a small portion of the total fluctuations in household spending. These results suggest that commonly used measures of uncertainty shocks do not appear to be a key factor driving households’ spending decisions and, in turn, economic weakness.

Speaking of uncertainty in the stock market…:

U.S. investors last week pulled the most money from domestic stock funds in six months after equities fell on concerns that the economic recovery may be faltering.

Funds that invest in U.S. stocks lost $5.46 billion in the week ended June 8, the biggest redemptions since the week ended Dec. 8, when investors withdrew $7.6 billion, according to the Washington-based Investment Company Institute. Funds that invest in international equities had $291 million in withdrawals last week, the ICI said today in an e-mail.

There is no word as to whether the authorities are still blaming equity mutual fund outflows on the flash crash of 2010-5-6.

The Yellow Badge of Damage was prominent today:

YLO Issues, 2011-6-15
Ticker Quote
6/14
Quote
6/15
Bid YTW
6/15
YTW
Scenario
6/15
Performance
6/15
(bid/bid)
YLO.PR.A 22.61-74 23.23-29 9.19% Soft Maturity
2012-12-30
+2.74%
YLO.PR.B 15.54-74 15.57-90 14.66% Soft Maturity
2017-06-29
+0.19%
YLO.PR.C 15.20-35 13.75-90 11.81% Limit Maturity -9.54%
YLO.PR.D 15.75-88 13.94-19 11.90% Limit Maturity -11.49%

It was a poor day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts down 9bp, FixedResets losing 9bp and DeemedRetractibles getting hit for 16bp. Not much volatility, volume was again above average.

PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.51%, equivalent to 7.16% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long Corporates yield about 5.3%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread is now about 185bp, unchanged from June 1.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.2441 % 2,473.9
FixedFloater 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.2441 % 3,720.7
Floater 2.45 % 2.21 % 41,281 21.78 4 -0.2441 % 2,671.1
OpRet 4.89 % 3.44 % 66,390 0.93 9 -0.2062 % 2,427.6
SplitShare 5.25 % -0.26 % 64,856 0.50 6 -0.0546 % 2,497.6
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.2062 % 2,219.8
Perpetual-Premium 5.66 % 4.77 % 149,401 0.77 12 -0.0493 % 2,074.2
Perpetual-Discount 5.46 % 5.51 % 119,966 14.45 18 -0.0935 % 2,177.7
FixedReset 5.16 % 3.29 % 190,006 2.81 57 -0.0920 % 2,311.2
Deemed-Retractible 5.08 % 4.91 % 297,267 8.17 47 -0.1588 % 2,153.4
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
RY.PR.H Deemed-Retractible -1.36 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2017-06-23
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.10
Bid-YTW : 4.90 %
HSB.PR.D Deemed-Retractible -1.12 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.72
Bid-YTW : 5.14 %
GWO.PR.N FixedReset 1.63 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.90
Bid-YTW : 3.58 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
TD.PR.N OpRet 348,775 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-05-30
Maturity Price : 25.25
Evaluated at bid price : 25.66
Bid-YTW : 3.44 %
BNS.PR.P FixedReset 312,485 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-05-25
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.14
Bid-YTW : 2.83 %
TD.PR.Y FixedReset 305,440 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-11-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.25
Bid-YTW : 3.26 %
TD.PR.M OpRet 166,700 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-05-30
Maturity Price : 25.25
Evaluated at bid price : 25.65
Bid-YTW : 3.60 %
BMO.PR.M FixedReset 108,380 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-09-24
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.25
Bid-YTW : 2.73 %
CM.PR.I Deemed-Retractible 76,550 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2016-03-01
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.17
Bid-YTW : 4.70 %
There were 43 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
HSB.PR.D Deemed-Retractible Quote: 24.72 – 25.05
Spot Rate : 0.3300
Average : 0.2238

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.72
Bid-YTW : 5.14 %

IAG.PR.F Deemed-Retractible Quote: 25.60 – 25.89
Spot Rate : 0.2900
Average : 0.1850

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2019-04-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.60
Bid-YTW : 5.52 %

ELF.PR.F Perpetual-Discount Quote: 23.01 – 23.36
Spot Rate : 0.3500
Average : 0.2465

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-15
Maturity Price : 22.76
Evaluated at bid price : 23.01
Bid-YTW : 5.85 %

MFC.PR.D FixedReset Quote: 27.07 – 27.40
Spot Rate : 0.3300
Average : 0.2323

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-07-19
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.07
Bid-YTW : 3.75 %

PWF.PR.F Perpetual-Discount Quote: 24.31 – 24.64
Spot Rate : 0.3300
Average : 0.2327

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-15
Maturity Price : 24.06
Evaluated at bid price : 24.31
Bid-YTW : 5.47 %

NA.PR.P FixedReset Quote: 27.61 – 27.90
Spot Rate : 0.2900
Average : 0.2017

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-03-17
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.61
Bid-YTW : 2.88 %

CANNEX Annuity Rate Data No Longer Available

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

CANNEX Annuity Rate Data, formerly published by Canadian Business is no longer being made freely available by any media source of which I am aware.

I have made inquiries and been told that:

Given that you are seeking to publicly distribute our rates, the fee is $550.00 / month.

Sorry, folks, I’m not paying that!

Accordingly, the link to “Annuity Rates” that used to be in the right-hand panel in the group “Quotes (Delayed)” has been deleted.

It’s too bad that Canadian insurance companies don’t compete on price, or all this information would be freely available on their websites. Many thanks to Assiduous Reader BM, who pointed out to me that the link given in my article The Annuity Decision no longer works.

June 14, 2011

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

OSFI’s revolving door revolved again, with the departure of the Assistant Croupier:

I am writing to announce the departure from OSFI of Mark White, Assistant Superintendent, Regulation Sector, effective October 31, 2011. Mark has accepted a position with a federally regulated financial institution and will assume his new role on November 1, 2011.

You can’t see the Sino-Forest for the trees:

Horsley, Chief Executive Officer Allen Chan, and director William Ardell held a 68-minute conference call with investors and analysts yesterday to refute assertions from Block’s Muddy Waters LLC that Sino-Forest overstated its timber holdings. Sino-Forest slumped 33 percent yesterday after the company’s earnings missed analysts’ estimates.

Paulson may have lost about C$515.5 million ($532.4 million) since June 1, the day before the Muddy Waters report on Sino-Forest was released.

“Because Muddy Waters never approached the company before it issued the report, it came as a total surprise to us,” Chan said. “Had Muddy Waters approached us before the release of the report, definitely we would have had lots of opportunity to explain to them, to show them all the errors that they have made in the report.”

The company has established an independent committee to investigate Muddy Waters’ allegations and appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to assist. The probe won’t be finished for two to three months, slowing the pace of timberland acquisitions, Sino-Forest said yesterday in its earnings statement.

From the last two paragraphs, I’m not sure whether refuting the allegations is supposed to be easy or hard!

Time for some yellow journalism!

YLO Issues, 2011-6-13
Ticker Quote
6/13
Quote
6/14
Bid YTW
6/14
YTW
Scenario
6/14
Performance
6/14
(bid/bid)
YLO.PR.A 22.22-29 22.61-74 11.06% Soft Maturity
2012-12-30
+1.76%
YLO.PR.B 15.93-00 15.54-74 14.70% Soft Maturity
2017-06-29
-2.45%
YLO.PR.C 16.12-22 15.20-35 10.66% Limit Maturity -5.71%
YLO.PR.D 16.25-40 15.75-88 10.50% Limit Maturity -3.08%

It was a mixed day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts up 15bp, FixedResets losing 1bp and DeemedRetractibles gaining 11bp. Volume was good.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.1771 % 2,479.9
FixedFloater 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.1771 % 3,729.8
Floater 2.44 % 2.20 % 41,145 21.79 4 0.1771 % 2,677.6
OpRet 4.88 % 2.61 % 67,419 0.37 9 0.0903 % 2,432.6
SplitShare 5.25 % -0.26 % 63,878 0.50 6 -0.0179 % 2,498.9
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.0903 % 2,224.4
Perpetual-Premium 5.66 % 4.75 % 151,549 0.77 12 -0.0378 % 2,075.2
Perpetual-Discount 5.46 % 5.54 % 120,633 14.45 18 0.1475 % 2,179.8
FixedReset 5.15 % 3.28 % 192,360 2.82 57 -0.0053 % 2,313.4
Deemed-Retractible 5.07 % 4.88 % 294,447 6.32 47 0.1134 % 2,156.8
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
HSB.PR.C Deemed-Retractible 1.01 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-07-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.00
Bid-YTW : 5.05 %
GWO.PR.I Deemed-Retractible 1.02 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.79
Bid-YTW : 5.62 %
HSB.PR.D Deemed-Retractible 1.21 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2015-01-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.00
Bid-YTW : 4.96 %
POW.PR.B Perpetual-Discount 1.29 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-14
Maturity Price : 24.10
Evaluated at bid price : 24.36
Bid-YTW : 5.58 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
MFC.PR.D FixedReset 83,257 RBC crossed two blocks of 25,000 each, both at 27.25.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-07-19
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.23
Bid-YTW : 3.54 %
NA.PR.L Deemed-Retractible 74,976 Desjardins crossed 37.400 at 25.10. TD crossed 24,100 at the same price.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.10
Bid-YTW : 4.88 %
FTS.PR.C OpRet 52,087 RBC crossed 50,000 at 25.83.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2011-07-14
Maturity Price : 25.50
Evaluated at bid price : 25.83
Bid-YTW : -7.86 %
BMO.PR.H Deemed-Retractible 51,117 RBC crossed 40,000 at 25.48.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-03-27
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.38
Bid-YTW : 4.58 %
RY.PR.P FixedReset 48,005 TD crossed 25,000 at 27.16.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-03-26
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.16
Bid-YTW : 3.13 %
NA.PR.K Deemed-Retractible 34,220 TD crossed 24,900 at 25.61.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2011-07-14
Maturity Price : 25.25
Evaluated at bid price : 25.58
Bid-YTW : -4.23 %
There were 43 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
PWF.PR.O Perpetual-Premium Quote: 25.50 – 25.88
Spot Rate : 0.3800
Average : 0.2419

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2018-11-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.50
Bid-YTW : 5.63 %

IAG.PR.C FixedReset Quote: 26.70 – 27.00
Spot Rate : 0.3000
Average : 0.2144

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-01-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.70
Bid-YTW : 3.39 %

BAM.PR.O OpRet Quote: 26.00 – 26.45
Spot Rate : 0.4500
Average : 0.3674

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Option Certainty
Maturity Date : 2013-06-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.00
Bid-YTW : 2.88 %

BNA.PR.E SplitShare Quote: 24.20 – 24.58
Spot Rate : 0.3800
Average : 0.3062

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2017-12-10
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.20
Bid-YTW : 5.49 %

MFC.PR.E FixedReset Quote: 26.56 – 26.79
Spot Rate : 0.2300
Average : 0.1673

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-10-19
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.56
Bid-YTW : 3.59 %

GWO.PR.N FixedReset Quote: 24.50 – 24.84
Spot Rate : 0.3400
Average : 0.2776

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.50
Bid-YTW : 3.76 %

June 13, 2011

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Everything old is new again! Treasury STRIPS are popular:

Demand for zero-coupon bonds is rising so fast that Wall Street banks created $205.2 billion of them as of May, the most in three years and just $3.6 billion away from levels last seen at the beginning of 2000, according to the Treasury Department.

Zero-coupon securities due in 30 years had their best and worst months in more than two decades during the last recession. The debt returned 26.7 percent in December 2008, a month after the consumer price index plunged 1.8 percent, the biggest drop in history, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data. A month later, the securities lost 24 percent.

S&P downgrades Greece:

Greece had its credit rating cut three levels by Standard & Poor’s, which branded the nation with the world’s lowest debt grade and said a restructuring looks “increasingly likely.”

The move to CCC from B reflects “our view that there is a significantly higher likelihood of one or more defaults,” S&P said in a statement today. “Risks for the implementation of Greece’s EU/IMF borrowing program are rising, given Greece’s increased financing needs and ongoing internal political disagreements surrounding the policy conditions required.”

The downgrade follows Moody’s Investors Service’s decision this month to grade Greece only one level higher and may intensify pressure on European governments to stem the region’s sovereign-debt crisis. Credit-default swaps on Greece, Ireland and Portugal surged to records today on concern governments’ struggles to resolve the turmoil will threaten their ability to pay off their debts.

US housing remains nasty:

Southern California home prices fell 8.2 percent … as unemployment remained high and mortgages were hard to obtain, DataQuick said.

The median paid in the six-county region was $280,000, down from $305,000 a year earlier and unchanged from April, the San Diego-based data seller said today in a statement. Sales fell 17 percent from May 2010 to a total of 18,394 new and resale houses and condominiums, the 11th straight year-over-year decline.

DBRS confirmed SLF:

In recent years, the requirement for additional regulatory capital at its operating subsidiaries has resulted in an increase in the Company’s consolidated financial leverage as measured by the ratio of debt plus preferred shares to total capitalization. The Company is currently operating with this ratio at greater than 30%, which, while an increase from less than 25% which it reported five years ago, is no higher than its peers. Given the Company’s relative conservatism from a business risk perspective, DBRS believes that this level is still acceptable for the Company’s current ratings, especially given that several points of the recent increase in the debt ratio reflects the reduction in shareholders’ equity related to the $1.7 billion writedown in goodwill following the implementation of IFRS. However, since higher leverage combined with weaker earnings has resulted in lower expected fixed charge coverage ratio, the Company does not have a lot of excess financial flexibility. Fortunately, the Company has excellent sources of liquidity as represented by excess regulatory capital, a highly liquid asset portfolio and about $800 million in cash on hand at the holding company level, which is available to reduce financial leverage.

… but they downgraded the Bank of Ireland:

DBRS Inc. (DBRS) today has downgraded the ratings of all dated subordinated debt issued by The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland (Bank of Ireland) to “C” from CCC. Furthermore, DBRS has downgraded Bank of Ireland’s Primary Capital Notes to “C” from CCC (low), as well as the Perpetual Preferred Securities of various related entities to “C” from CC. Today’s downgrade follows the announcement by the Bank of Ireland that it has commenced an offer to exchange the aforementioned securities for cash or equity and a solicitation of consents in relation to the securities. Moreover, DBRS expects to downgrade the securities discussed above to “D” at completion of the buyback; as such, the securities remain Under Review with Negative Implications, where they were placed on 3 December 2010.

In DBRS’s view, the exchange offer, when completed, is tantamount to a default as defined by DBRS policy. DBRS views the proposed exchange offer as coercive as the offer affords investors in these instruments limited options. Should investors in these instruments reject the proposed offer, at a 80-90% discount if accepting the cash option, or a 60-80% discount if accepting the equity option, on the tendered securities, they risk receiving substantially less if the proposed consent amendments are ratified. Remaining investors in these instruments would then receive 0.001% of par value, should the consent to allow the “clean-up” of residual notes be accepted by tendering investors.

Mean Joe Green used to crash through offensive lines. Mean Joe Yellow offensively crashes through your portfolio.

YLO Issues, 2011-6-13
Ticker Quote
6/10
Quote
6/13
Bid YTW
6/13
YTW
Scenario
6/13
Performance
6/13
(bid/bid)
YLO.PR.A 22.51-78 22.22-29 12.26% Soft Maturity
2012-12-30
-1.29%
YLO.PR.B 16.35-49 15.93-00 14.16% Soft Maturity
2017-06-29
-2.57%
YLO.PR.C 16.24-39 16.12-22 10.03% Limit Maturity -0.74%
YLO.PR.D 16.75-80 16.25-40 10.16% Limit Maturity -2.99%

It was a mixed day on the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts getting whacked for 30bp, FixedResets losing 5bp and DeemedRetractibles gaining 1bp. BAM and BAM-related issuers dominated the Performance table (BAM itself was ex-dividend today) and volume was actually quite good.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.0339 % 2,475.5
FixedFloater 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.0339 % 3,723.2
Floater 2.44 % 2.22 % 41,059 21.67 4 -0.0339 % 2,672.9
OpRet 4.88 % 2.67 % 68,092 0.38 9 0.1770 % 2,430.4
SplitShare 5.25 % -0.07 % 62,733 0.50 6 -0.1408 % 2,499.4
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.1770 % 2,222.4
Perpetual-Premium 5.66 % 4.94 % 151,228 1.39 12 0.0033 % 2,076.0
Perpetual-Discount 5.46 % 5.58 % 120,360 14.42 18 -0.2975 % 2,176.6
FixedReset 5.15 % 3.26 % 186,618 2.82 57 -0.0544 % 2,313.5
Deemed-Retractible 5.07 % 4.89 % 295,150 8.18 47 0.0130 % 2,154.4
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
FTS.PR.F Perpetual-Discount -1.98 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-13
Maturity Price : 23.03
Evaluated at bid price : 23.24
Bid-YTW : 5.30 %
POW.PR.B Perpetual-Discount -1.88 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-13
Maturity Price : 23.74
Evaluated at bid price : 24.05
Bid-YTW : 5.65 %
BAM.PR.M Perpetual-Discount -1.56 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-13
Maturity Price : 21.30
Evaluated at bid price : 21.30
Bid-YTW : 5.60 %
BAM.PR.N Perpetual-Discount -1.21 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-13
Maturity Price : 21.26
Evaluated at bid price : 21.26
Bid-YTW : 5.61 %
BNA.PR.E SplitShare -1.06 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2017-12-10
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.20
Bid-YTW : 5.49 %
BAM.PR.O OpRet 1.01 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Option Certainty
Maturity Date : 2013-06-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.05
Bid-YTW : 2.78 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
CM.PR.J Deemed-Retractible 84,525 Desjardins sold two blocks of 10,000 each to Nesbitt at 24.99, and crossed 45,000 at 25.00.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.95
Bid-YTW : 4.61 %
BMO.PR.Q FixedReset 64,577 Nesbitt crossed 50,400 at 25.50.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.46
Bid-YTW : 3.53 %
RY.PR.T FixedReset 46,490 RBC crossed 25,000 at 27.45.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-09-23
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.35
Bid-YTW : 3.33 %
BNS.PR.N Deemed-Retractible 45,654 RBC crossed 30,000 at 25.80.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2017-02-26
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.80
Bid-YTW : 4.76 %
CM.PR.L FixedReset 39,837 Nesbitt crossed 20,000 at 27.85.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-05-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.76
Bid-YTW : 2.89 %
TD.PR.G FixedReset 39,347 TD crossed 24,900 at 27.40.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-05-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.38
Bid-YTW : 3.17 %
There were 40 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
TRI.PR.B Floater Quote: 23.50 – 24.49
Spot Rate : 0.9900
Average : 0.6369

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-13
Maturity Price : 23.20
Evaluated at bid price : 23.50
Bid-YTW : 2.22 %

POW.PR.B Perpetual-Discount Quote: 24.05 – 24.60
Spot Rate : 0.5500
Average : 0.3618

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-13
Maturity Price : 23.74
Evaluated at bid price : 24.05
Bid-YTW : 5.65 %

FTS.PR.F Perpetual-Discount Quote: 23.24 – 23.72
Spot Rate : 0.4800
Average : 0.3085

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-13
Maturity Price : 23.03
Evaluated at bid price : 23.24
Bid-YTW : 5.30 %

MFC.PR.C Deemed-Retractible Quote: 22.41 – 22.69
Spot Rate : 0.2800
Average : 0.1803

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.41
Bid-YTW : 5.84 %

BAM.PR.R FixedReset Quote: 25.74 – 26.05
Spot Rate : 0.3100
Average : 0.2293

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2041-06-13
Maturity Price : 25.69
Evaluated at bid price : 25.74
Bid-YTW : 4.56 %

BNA.PR.E SplitShare Quote: 24.20 – 24.50
Spot Rate : 0.3000
Average : 0.2252

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2017-12-10
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.20
Bid-YTW : 5.49 %

NEW.PR.C: Partial Call for Redemption

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Newgrowth Corp. has announced:

that it has called 803,467 Preferred Shares for cash redemption on June 24, 2011 (in accordance with the Company’s Articles) representing approximately 22.620% of the outstanding Preferred Shares as a result of the special annual retraction of 803,467 Capital Shares by the holders thereof. The Preferred Shares shall be redeemed on a pro rata basis, so that each holder of Preferred Shares of record on June 23, 2011 will have approximately 22.620% of their Preferred Shares redeemed. The redemption price for the Preferred Shares will be $13.70 per share.

In addition, holders of a further 849,325 Capital Shares and 849,325 Preferred Shares have deposited such shares concurrently for retraction on June 24, 2011. As a result, a total of 1,652,792 Capital Shares and 1,652,792 Preferred Shares, or approximately 37.5521% of both classes of shares currently outstanding, will be redeemed.

Holders of Preferred Shares that are on record for dividends but have been called for redemption will be entitled to receive dividends thereon which have been declared but remain unpaid up to but not including June 24, 2011.

Payment of the amount due to holders of Preferred Shares will be made by the Company on June 24, 2011. From and after June 24, 2011 the holders of Preferred Shares that have been called for redemption will not be entitled to dividends or to exercise any right in respect of such shares except to receive the amount due on redemption.

Huh. It was only two months ago that their warrant offering was completely subscribed and only three months ago that I was so pleased with the growth in shares outstanding that I added it to the HIMIPref™ database. Market timing … market schmiming, that’s what I say!

NEW.PR.C is tracked by HIMIPref™ and is assigned to the SplitShare index.

New Issue: CSE FixedReset 5.00%+271

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Capstone Infrastructure Corporation has announced:

it has agreed to issue, on a bought deal basis, 3,000,000 Cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series A (the “Series A Shares”) at a price of $25.00 per Series A Share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $75,000,000, to a syndicate of underwriters co-led by TD Securities Inc., Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. and RBC Capital Markets for distribution to the public.

Capstone has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 450,000 Series A Shares at $25.00 per Series A Share to cover over-allotments, exercisable in whole or in part at any time until 30 days after closing, which, if exercised in full, would increase the gross offering size to $86,250,000.

Holders of the Series A Shares will be entitled to receive a cumulative quarterly fixed dividend yielding 5.0% annually for the initial period ending July 31, 2016. Thereafter, the dividend rate will be reset every five years at a rate equal to the then current 5-year Government of Canada bond yield plus 2.71%.

Holders of Series A Shares will have the right, at their option, to convert their shares into Cumulative Floating Rate First Preferred Shares, Series B (the “Series B Shares”), subject to certain conditions and the Corporation’s right to redeem the Series A Shares as described below, on July 31, 2016 and on July 31 every five years thereafter. Holders of the Series B Shares will be entitled to receive cumulative quarterly dividends at a rate set quarterly equal to the then current three-month Government of Canada Treasury Bill yield plus 2.71%.

Holders of Series B Shares may convert their Series B Shares into Series A Shares, subject to certain conditions and the Corporation’s right to redeem the Series B Shares as described below, on July 31, 2021 and on July 31 every five years thereafter.

The Series A Shares will not be redeemable prior to July 31, 2016. On July 31, 2016 and on July 31 every five years thereafter, the Corporation may, subject to certain conditions, redeem all or any part of the Series A Shares at a cash redemption price per share of $25.00 together with all declared and unpaid dividends. The Corporation may redeem all or any part of the Series B Shares at a cash redemption price per share of $25.00 together with all declared and unpaid dividends in the case of redemptions on July 31, 2021 and on July 31 every five years thereafter or $25.50 together with all declared and unpaid dividends in the case of redemptions on any other date after July 31, 2016.

Standard & Poor’s, a division of the McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. (“S&P”), has assigned a preliminary rating of P-3 for the Series A Shares.

The net proceeds of the offering will be used to fund the Corporation’s final equity commitment to the Amherstburg solar power facility, to fund future potential acquisitions and for general corporate purposes. The Series A Shares will be offered in all provinces and territories of Canada by way of a short-form prospectus. The offering is expected to close on or about June 30, 2011 and is subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.

Great! A junk FixedReset to fund solar power! I was hoping for one of these … not.

June PrefLetter Released!

Monday, June 13th, 2011

The June, 2011, edition of PrefLetter has been released and is now available for purchase as the “Previous edition”. Those who subscribe for a full year receive the “Previous edition” as a bonus.

The June edition contains two short appendices: one discussing changes in DeemedRetratctible analysis due to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s recent announcement that it was seeking NVCC status for three of its issues; and another discussing Yellow Media and the recent cataclysm that has befallen its preferred shares.

PrefLetter may now be purchased by all Canadian residents.

Until further notice, the “Previous Edition” will refer to the June, 2011, issue, while the “Next Edition” will be the July, 2011, issue, scheduled to be prepared as of the close July and eMailed to subscribers prior to market-opening on July 11.

PrefLetter is intended for long term investors seeking issues to buy-and-hold. At least one recommendation from each of the major preferred share sectors is included and discussed.

Note: My verbosity has grown by such leaps and bounds that it is no longer possible to deliver PrefLetter as an eMail attachment – it’s just too big for my software! Instead, I have sent passwords – click on the link in your eMail and your copy will download.

Note: The PrefLetter website has a Subscriber Download Feature. If you have not received your copy, try it!

Note: PrefLetter eMails sometimes runs afoul of spam filters. If you have not received your copy within fifteen minutes of a release notice such as this one, please double check your (company’s) spam filtering policy and your spam repository – there are some hints in the post Sympatico Spam Filters out of Control. If it’s not there, contact me and I’ll get you your copy … somehow!

Note: There have been scattered complaints regarding inability to open PrefLetter in Acrobat Reader, despite my practice of including myself on the subscription list and immediately checking the copy received. I have had the occasional difficulty reading US Government documents, which I was able to resolve by downloading and installing the latest version of Adobe Reader. Also, note that so far, all complaints have been from users of Yahoo Mail. Try saving it to disk first, before attempting to open it.

Note: There have been other scattered complaints that double-clicking on the links in the “PrefLetter Download” email results in a message that the password has already been used. I have been able to reproduce this problem in my own eMail software … the problem is double-clicking. What happens is the first click opens the link and the second click finds that the password has already been used and refuses to work properly. So the moral of the story is: Don’t be a dick! Single Click!

June PrefLetter Now in Preparation!

Saturday, June 11th, 2011

The markets have closed and the June edition of PrefLetter is now being prepared.

PrefLetter is the monthly newsletter recommending individual issues of preferred shares to subscribers. There is at least one recommendation from every major type of preferred share with investment-grade constituents. The recommendations are taylored for “buy-and-hold” investors.

The June edition will contain two short appendicies: one discussing changes in DeemedRetratctible analysis due to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s recent announcement that it was seeking NVCC status for three of its issues; and another discussing Yellow Media and the recent cataclysm that has befallen its preferred shares.

Those taking an annual subscription to PrefLetter receive a discount on viewing of my seminars.

PrefLetter is now available to all residents of Canada.

The June issue will be eMailed to clients and available for single-issue purchase with immediate delivery prior to the opening bell on Monday. I will write another post when the new issue has been uploaded to the server … so watch this space carefully if you intend to order “Next Issue” or “Previous Issue”! Until then, the “Next Issue” is the May issue.