PrefBlog

BCE Inc. has announced:

that 8,050 of its 8,779,487 fixed-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AF (“Series AF Preferred Shares”) have been tendered for conversion on February 1, 2025, on a one-for-one basis, into floating-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AE (“Series AE Preferred Shares”). In addition, 2,479,334 of its 5,810,913 Series AE Preferred Shares have been tendered for conversion on February 1, 2025, on a one-for-one basis, into Series AF Preferred Shares. Consequently, excluding any Series AE Preferred Shares and Series AF Preferred Shares that may be purchased for cancellation by BCE pursuant to its normal course issuer bid between January 21, 2025 and February 1, 2025, 11,250,771 Series AF Preferred Shares and 3,339,629 Series AE Preferred Shares would be issued and outstanding on February 1, 2025. The Series AF Preferred Shares and the Series AE Preferred Shares will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols BCE.PR.F and BCE.PR.E, respectively.

The Series AF Preferred Shares will pay on a quarterly basis, for the five-year period beginning on February 1, 2025, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE, a fixed cash dividend based on an annual fixed dividend rate of 5.496%.

The Series AE Preferred Shares will continue to pay a monthly floating adjustable cash dividend for the five-year period beginning on February 1, 2025, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE. The monthly floating adjustable dividend for any particular month will continue to be calculated based on the prime rate for such month and using the Designated Percentage for such month representing the sum of an adjustment factor (based on the market price of the Series AE Preferred Shares in the preceding month) and the Designated Percentage for the preceding month.

Thus there has been a net 17% conversion to the FixedFloater issue, leaving the pair with a 77% weighting in this structure. It is of interest to note that the share numbers outstanding prior to conversion are both down about 700,000 shares from the figures reported five years ago, indicating that BCE has cancelled about 9% of the total outstanding since that time pursuant to their Normal Course Issuer Bid

BCE.PR.F is a FixedFloater which was added to the HIMIPref™ database in December 2008, when it was paying 4.40%. It reset in 2010 to 4.541% and after a net conversion to BCE.PR.F the issue pair was about 90% FixedFloater. It reset in 2015 to 3.110% and after a massive conversion the issue pair was about 60% RatchetRate. In 2020 the issue reset to 3.865% (which was 239% of the GOC-5 rate) and there was a net 17% conversion to FixedFloaters, which thus comprised about 59% of the combined issue size. In 2025, the Selected Percentage Rate was announced as 170% and the new dividend rate subsequently reset to 5.496%.

BCE.PR.E is a RatchetRate preferred, interconvertible every five years with BCE.PR.F. It was added to the HIMIPref™ database in May, 2012.

Thanks to Assiduous Reader niagara for bringing this to my attention!

Emera Incorporated has announced (on 2025-1-16):

the applicable dividend rates for its Cumulative Rate Reset First Preferred Shares, Series F (the “Series F Shares”) and Cumulative Floating Rate First Preferred Shares, Series G (the “Series G Shares”), in each case, payable if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of the Company:

• 5.749% per annum on the Series F Shares ($0.35931 per Series F Share per quarter), being equal to the sum of the Government of Canada bond yield as at January 16, 2025, plus 2.63%, payable quarterly on the 15th of February, May, August and November of each year during the five-year period commencing on February 15, 2025 and ending on (and inclusive of) February 14, 2030; and
• 5.764% on the Series G Shares for the three-month period commencing on February 15, 2025 and ending on (and inclusive of) May 14, 2025 ($0.35137 per Series G Share for the quarter), being equal to the sum of the three-month Government of Canada treasury bill yield rate as at January 16, 2025, plus 2.63% (calculated on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed during the quarter divided by 365), payable on the 15th of May, 2025. The quarterly floating dividend rate will be reset every quarter.

Subject to certain conditions set out in the prospectus supplement of the Company dated June 2, 2014, to the short form base shelf prospectus dated May 2, 2013, relating to the issuance of the Series F Shares (collectively, the “Prospectus”), holders of the Series F Shares have the right, at their option, to convert all or any of their Series F Shares, on a one-for-one basis, into Series G Shares on February 15, 2025 (the “Conversion Date”). On such date, holders who do not exercise their right to convert their Series F Shares into Series G Shares will continue to hold their Series F Shares. The foregoing conversion right is subject to the following:

• if the Company determines that there would be less than 1,000,000 Series G Shares outstanding on the Conversion Date, then holders of Series F Shares will not be entitled to convert their shares into Series G Shares, and
• alternatively, if the Company determines that there would remain outstanding less than 1,000,000 Series F Shares on the Conversion Date, then all remaining Series F Shares will automatically be converted into Series G Shares on a one-for-one basis on the Conversion Date.

Holders of Series F Shares who wish to exercise their conversion right should communicate with their broker or other nominee to obtain instructions for exercising such right during the conversion period, which runs from January 16, 2025 until 5:00 p.m. (EST) on January 31, 2025. Any notices received after this deadline will not be valid. Holders of Series F Shares who wish to exercise their conversion right must carefully follow the procedures and instructions received from their broker or other nominee and contact their broker or other nominee if they need assistance. Such broker or other nominee may set deadlines for the return of instructions that are well in advance of the 5:00 p.m. (EST) deadline on January 31, 2025. As such, it is recommended that holders of Series F Shares communicate instructions to their broker or other nominee well in advance of the deadline in order to provide their broker or other nominee with adequate time to complete the necessary steps prior to the deadline.

Holders of Series F Shares who do not provide notice or communicate with their broker or other nominee by the deadline will retain their Series F Shares and receive the new annual fixed dividend rate applicable to the Series F Shares, subject to the conditions stated above. Holders of Series F Shares will have the opportunity to convert their shares again on February 15, 2030 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 Series F Shares and Series G Shares, please see the Company’s Prospectus, which is available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

EMA.PR.F was issued as a FixedReset, 4.25%+263, that commenced trading 2014-6-9 after being being announced 2014-5-29. The company announced the extension on 2020-1-7. EMA.PR.F reset at 4.202% effective 2020-2-15. I recommended against conversion and there was no conversion. Notice of extension was provided in 2025. EMA.PR.F is tracked by HIMIPref™ but relegated to the Scraps – FixedReset Discount subindex on credit concerns.

Thanks to Assiduous Reader NK for bringing this to my attention!

BCE Inc. has announced that it:

will, on February 1, 2025, continue to have Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AF (“Series AF Preferred Shares”) outstanding if, following the end of the conversion period on January 20, 2025, BCE Inc. determines that at least one million Series AF Preferred Shares would remain outstanding. In such a case, as of February 1, 2025, the Series AF Preferred Shares will pay, on a quarterly basis, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE Inc., a fixed cash dividend for the following five years that will be based on a fixed rate equal to the product of: (a) the average of the yields to maturity compounded semi-annually, determined on January 13, 2025, by two Canadian investment dealers selected by the Board of Directors of BCE Inc., that would be carried by non-callable Government of Canada bonds with a 5-year maturity (the “Government of Canada Yield”), multiplied by (b) a percentage rate determined by the Board of Directors of BCE Inc. (the “Selected Percentage Rate”) for such period. The “Selected Percentage Rate” determined by BCE Inc. for such period is 170%. The “Government of Canada Yield” is 3.233%. Accordingly, the annual dividend rate applicable to the Series AF Preferred Shares for the period of five years beginning on February 1, 2025 will be 5.496%.

BCE.PR.F is a FixedFloater which was added to the HIMIPref™ database in December 2008, when it was paying 4.40%. It reset in 2010 to 4.541% and after a net conversion to BCE.PR.F the issue pair was about 90% FixedFloater. It reset in 2015 to 3.110% and after a massive conversion the issue pair was about 60% RatchetRate. In 2020 the issue reset to 3.865% (which was 239% of the GOC-5 rate) and there was a net 17% conversion to FixedFloaters, which thus comprised about 59% of the combined issue size. In 2025, the Selected Percentage Rate was announced as 170%.

BCE.PR.E is a RatchetRate preferred, interconvertible every five years with BCE.PR.F. It was added to the HIMIPref™ database in May, 2012.