PrefBlog

Dundee Corporation has announced:

that 651,862 of its Cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset First Preference Shares, Series 2 (“Series 2 Shares”) will be converted, on a one for one basis, into Cumulative Floating Rate First Preference Shares, Series 3 (“Series 3 Shares”) of the Company and 349,755 Series 3 Shares will be converted into Series 2 Shares, in each case effective September 30, 2019. As a result, on September 30, 2019, Dundee will have 3,177,278 Series 2 Shares and 2,022,722 Series 3 Shares issued and outstanding, less any Series 2 Shares and Series 3 Shares purchased by the Company for cancellation pursuant to the previously announced normal course issuer bids.

Holders will again have the opportunity to convert their Series 2 Shares into Series 3 or to convert their Series 3 Shares into Series 2 Shares on September 30, 2024, and every five years thereafter as long as the Series 2 Shares and Series 3 Shares remain outstanding.

So that’s a net conversion of just under 6% from DC.PR.B, the FixedReset, to DC.PR.D, the FloatingReset, leaving DC.PR.B with about 61% of the total.

DC.PR.B is a FixedReset, 5.688%+410, that commenced trading 2009-9-15 with a 6.75% coupon after being announced 2009-8-25. It reset to 5.688% effective 2014-09-30. I made no recommendation regarding conversion. Now, DC.PR.B will reset at 5.284% effective September 30, 2019. I recommended retaining, or converting to, DC.PR.B. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ but is relegated to the Scraps – FixedReset (Discount) subindex on credit concerns.

DC.PR.D is a FloatingReset, +410, that came into existence via a partial conversion from DC.PR.B. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ but relegated to the Scraps – FloatingReset subindex on credit concerns.

TC Energy Corporation has announced:

that it does not intend to exercise its right to redeem its Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 9 (Series 9 Shares) on October 30, 2019. As a result, subject to certain conditions, the holders of Series 9 Shares have the right to choose one of the following options with regard to their shares:

to retain any or all of their Series 9 Shares and continue to receive a fixed rate quarterly dividend; or

to convert, on a one-for-one basis, any or all of their Series 9 Shares into Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 10 (Series 10 Shares) of TC Energy and receive a floating rate quarterly dividend.
The dividend rate applicable to the Series 9 Shares for the five-year period commencing on October 30, 2019 to, but excluding, October 30, 2024 will equal the Government of Canada five-year bond yield on October 1, 2019 plus 2.35 per cent. The dividend rate applicable to the Series 10 Shares for the three-month period commencing on October 30, 2019 to, but excluding, January 30, 2020 will equal the Government of Canada 90-day treasury bill rate on October 1, 2019 plus 2.35 per cent. Both rates will be calculated according to the terms of the prospectus supplement dated January 13, 2014 and announced by way of a news release on October 1, 2019.

Beneficial owners of Series 9 Shares who want to exercise their right of conversion should communicate as soon as possible with their broker or other nominee and ensure that they follow their instructions in order to meet the deadline to exercise such right, which is 5 p.m. (EDT) on October 15, 2019. Any notices received after this deadline will not be valid. As such, it is recommended that this be done well in advance of the deadline in order to provide the broker or other nominee with time to complete the necessary steps.

The foregoing conversions are subject to the conditions that: (i) if TC Energy determines that there would be less than one million Series 9 Shares outstanding after October 30, 2019, then all remaining Series 9 Shares will automatically be converted into Series 10 Shares on a one-for-one basis on October 30, 2019 and (ii) alternatively, if TC Energy determines that there would be less than one million Series 10 Shares outstanding after October 30, 2019, no Series 9 Shares will be converted into Series 10 Shares. In either case, TC Energy will issue a news release to that effect no later than October 23, 2019.

Beneficial owners of Series 9 Shares who do not provide notice or communicate with their broker or other nominee by the deadline will retain their Series 9 Shares and receive the new annual fixed dividend rate applicable to the Series 9 Shares, subject to the conditions stated above.

Holders of the Series 9 Shares and the Series 10 Shares will have the opportunity to convert their shares again on October 30, 2024 and every five years thereafter as long as the shares remain outstanding.

For more information on the terms of, and risks associated with an investment in the Series 9 Shares and the Series 10 Shares, please see the Corporation’s prospectus supplement dated January 13, 2014 which is available on sedar.com or on the Corporation’s website.

TRP.PR.E is a FixedReset, 4.25%+235, that commenced trading 2014-1-20 after being announced 2014-1-13. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ and assigned to the FixedReset-Discount subindex.

I will have more to say once the reset rate is announced October 1.

DBRS has announced:

that the Under Review with Developing Implications status has been maintained for GMP Capital Inc.’s (GMP or the Company) Cumulative Preferred Shares at Pfd-4 (high). The rating was put Under Review with Developing Implications on June 18, 2019, following the announcement that GMP had agreed to sell substantially all of its capital markets business to Stifel Financial Corp. (Stifel).

On June 17, 2019, GMP announced that it was selling substantially all of its capital markets business to Stifel for a cash consideration of tangible book value of the business plus $45 million, subject to adjustment and pending shareholder and regulatory approval. It was later announced that Harris Fricker, then Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GMP, and other key personnel agreed to join Stifel. On August 6, 2019, the majority of shareholders voted to approve the sale during a special meeting.

Furthermore, under the leadership of Interim President and CEO, Kish Kapoor, the Company announced that it is in discussions to consolidate the ownership of Richardson GMP. Richardson GMP is the Company’s wealth management joint venture in Canada, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary and the cornerstone of GMP’s business upon closing this second transaction. The acquisition will only take place once the capital markets business transaction closes and is also subject to separate shareholder and regulatory approval.
…
The rating could be upgraded if GMP’s franchise prospects and its pro forma financials post-transactions are deemed to be stronger as a result of shedding the capital markets businesses, which have been highly volatile and loss-making.

The rating could be downgraded if the transactions fail to be completed as proposed — including if GMP is not able to acquire majority control of Richardson GMP, which might limit its wealth management growth strategy — or if GMP’s credit fundamentals post-transaction are deemed to be weaker.

GMP.PR.B and GMP.PR.C were initially placed on Review-Developing in June, 2019.

GMP.PR.B was issued as a FixedReset, 5.50%+289, that commenced trading 2011-2-22 after being announced 2011-2-1. Notice of extension was published 2016-2-23, followed by the announcement of a reset to 3.611%. I recommended against conversion, but there was a 22% conversion into GMP.PR.C anyway.

As indicated above, GMP.PR.C is a FloatingReset, +289, that came into being in 2016 via a 22% conversion into GMP.PR.C.

TransAlta Corporation has announced:

that after taking into account all election notices received for the conversion of the Cumulative Redeemable Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series G (the “Series G Shares”) into Cumulative Redeemable Floating Rate Preferred Shares, Series H (the “Series H Shares”), there were only 140,730 Series G Shares tendered for conversion, which is less than the one million shares required to give effect to conversions into Series H Shares. As a result, none of the Series G Shares will be converted into Series H Shares on September 30, 2019.

TA.PR.J is a FixedReset, 5.30%+380, that commenced trading 2014-8-14 after being announced 2014-8-6. TA.PR.J will reset at 4.988% effective September 30, 2019. I recommended against conversion. The issue is tracked by HIMIPref™ and has been assigned to the Scraps index on credit concerns. It was recently downgraded to P-4(high by S&P but remains at Pfd-3(low) with DBRS.