October 15, 2012

Statistics Canada has revised estimated productivity growth substantially downwards:

The latest revisions mean the Canada-U.S. gap is now wider – 0.8 percentage points per year from 1981 to 2012, up from 0.7 per cent.

Fortunately, this is not expected to affect milkfare, subsidies of pulp mills, Ontario’s solar energy programme or regulation.

In a startling development, common shareholders are still allowed to vote on corporate business:

In Telus’s case, the company is up against Mason Capital, which owns almost one-fifth of the company’s voting stock. Mason has also sold short millions of [non-voting] shares, leaving it a very slim net long interest. Mason is using the votes on the shares it owns to fight Telus’s plan to consolidate the two classes of stock into a single class on a one-for-one basis. Mason wants a ratio that favours the voting stock.

Telus argues that Mason has no real interest in the overall health of the company, making Mason an empty voter. Mason, of course, disagrees. It has on its side one of the people who coined the term, who points to the fact that Mason has an economic interest in the share collapse’s success or failure.

The Court of Appeal for British Columbia ruled Friday that “there is no indication that it [Mason] is violating any laws, nor is there any statutory provision that would allow the court to intervene on broad equitable grounds. To the extent that cases of ‘empty voting’ are subverting the goals of shareholder democracy, the remedy must lie in legislative and regulatory change.”

I can’t understand why any common shareholder would vote in favour of this, diluting their vote with no compensation and I quite agree that Mason cannot logically be described as an empty voter in this instance.

To my mind, a much more serious problem is owners of common who also have a long position in the non-voting shares. In the bond world, this is known as debt decoupling, where as bondholder you vote for a bad deal so that your Credit Default Swaps will pay more.

It was a negative day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualPremiums losing 8bp, FixedResets off 2bp and DeemedRetractibles down 7bp. Volatility picked up, with Floaters jumping up and insurance-related issues getting hit …. but it was not the world’s biggest deal. Volume was low.

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 0.8795 % 2,456.0
FixedFloater 4.31 % 3.64 % 35,092 18.10 1 0.0454 % 3,729.7
Floater 2.99 % 3.00 % 65,581 19.74 3 0.8795 % 2,651.9
OpRet 4.65 % 2.96 % 63,732 0.66 4 -0.3916 % 2,554.6
SplitShare 5.44 % 4.99 % 72,800 4.51 3 -0.1190 % 2,819.4
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.3916 % 2,335.9
Perpetual-Premium 5.30 % 1.90 % 88,194 0.36 27 -0.0849 % 2,301.7
Perpetual-Discount 5.03 % 4.93 % 46,740 15.48 4 -0.1335 % 2,574.0
FixedReset 4.98 % 3.02 % 182,365 3.79 73 -0.0191 % 2,437.3
Deemed-Retractible 4.94 % 3.54 % 119,415 0.83 47 -0.0740 % 2,379.5
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
IAG.PR.A Deemed-Retractible -1.88 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.04
Bid-YTW : 5.18 %
PWF.PR.M FixedReset -1.11 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.82
Bid-YTW : 3.20 %
MFC.PR.G FixedReset -1.09 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2016-12-19
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.30
Bid-YTW : 4.19 %
POW.PR.D Perpetual-Premium -1.06 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-10-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.13
Bid-YTW : 4.76 %
FTS.PR.E OpRet -1.00 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-06-01
Maturity Price : 25.75
Evaluated at bid price : 26.60
Bid-YTW : 0.43 %
BAM.PR.C Floater 1.09 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-10-15
Maturity Price : 17.59
Evaluated at bid price : 17.59
Bid-YTW : 3.00 %
BAM.PR.K Floater 1.09 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-10-15
Maturity Price : 17.59
Evaluated at bid price : 17.59
Bid-YTW : 3.00 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
CM.PR.M FixedReset 148,840 Scotia crossed 51,000 at 26.70; RBC crossed blocks of 63,700 and 20,000 at the same price.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-07-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.70
Bid-YTW : 2.47 %
ENB.PR.P FixedReset 77,340 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-10-15
Maturity Price : 23.19
Evaluated at bid price : 25.31
Bid-YTW : 3.72 %
GWO.PR.R Deemed-Retractible 64,860 Recent new issue.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.99
Bid-YTW : 4.84 %
CM.PR.K FixedReset 53,100 RBC crossed 51,200 at 26.22.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-07-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.22
Bid-YTW : 2.45 %
BAM.PR.B Floater 43,977 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-10-15
Maturity Price : 17.58
Evaluated at bid price : 17.58
Bid-YTW : 3.00 %
CM.PR.G Perpetual-Premium 43,378 TD crossed two blocks of 20,000 each, both at 25.70.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-11-14
Maturity Price : 25.50
Evaluated at bid price : 25.70
Bid-YTW : -6.75 %
There were 20 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
BNA.PR.D SplitShare Quote: 26.47 – 26.99
Spot Rate : 0.5200
Average : 0.3319

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-11-14
Maturity Price : 26.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.47
Bid-YTW : -6.02 %

IAG.PR.A Deemed-Retractible Quote: 24.04 – 24.44
Spot Rate : 0.4000
Average : 0.2251

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.04
Bid-YTW : 5.18 %

FTS.PR.E OpRet Quote: 26.60 – 26.95
Spot Rate : 0.3500
Average : 0.2238

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-06-01
Maturity Price : 25.75
Evaluated at bid price : 26.60
Bid-YTW : 0.43 %

BAM.PR.J OpRet Quote: 26.67 – 26.99
Spot Rate : 0.3200
Average : 0.2289

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-03-31
Maturity Price : 26.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.67
Bid-YTW : 3.55 %

GWO.PR.Q Deemed-Retractible Quote: 25.76 – 25.94
Spot Rate : 0.1800
Average : 0.1117

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.76
Bid-YTW : 4.80 %

IGM.PR.B Perpetual-Premium Quote: 27.00 – 27.49
Spot Rate : 0.4900
Average : 0.4269

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-12-31
Maturity Price : 26.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.00
Bid-YTW : 3.75 %

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