I just noticed this National Post article from July 4:
“If any other consortium is going to do a privatization, I think a precedent has been set by Teachers and the board of BCE,” said John Nagel, an analyst at Desjardins Securities who specializes in preferred shares. “The common, preferred and minority interests will have to be looked after in any subsequent deal.”Even if Telus Corp., a rival telecommunications company, makes a subsequent bid for Bell, it will also feel pressured to redeem the preferred shares rather than leave them trading below par
John Nagel’s long term track record was not disclosed. He might be right … but I’ll stick to my guns and say these issues are far too risky to be held in a fixed income portfolio.
Link for browsing purposes: S&P Leaves BCE on Credit Watch Negative.
[…] John Nagel, who was last mentioned in this blog touting BCE Prefs to the National Post, is now doing the same for the Globe and Mail: Desjardins doesn’t believe another bid will hurt the BCE preferred shareholders. Here’s why. BCE’s board has issued conditions that must be met for it to approve a superior bid, including the condition that another bid must be “more favourable from a financial point of view to the affected shareholders.” […]