PrefBlog

The new Royal Bank 4.6% perpetuals were off to a good start today, trading 239,875 shares in a range of 25.15-25 to close at $25.16-18, 3×13.

The reorg entry has been processed on HIMIPref™: the pre-issue code was P50006, the new security code is A45012.

I’ll update this post with some comments about valuation when I update HIMIPref™ with today’s closing quotations later tonight.

Update : The issue still looks attractive at the closing quotation. Consider the YTWs of the other Royal Perpetual issues that are outstanding (except for the soon to be redeemed RY.PR.O:

So, it’s my guess there’s still a little value left in this issue!

DBRS announced today that they are upgrading the Canadian Utilities Limited preferred shares Series O, T, W & X from Pfd-2 to Pfd-2(high), where they will now match the series Q, R, S, U & V.

HIMIPref™ tracks four of these issues:

I do not anticipate much excitement to result from this upgrade. The two issues affected are high-dividend perpetuals with a short period until their YTW call. Due to the shortness of their expected term, NONE of the CU issues are eligible for purchase recommendations from HIMIPref™.

And anyway, as far as I can tell, the market isn’t putting much of a premium on “High” modifiers anyway!

The HIMIPref™ credit rating adjustment will take effect commencing October 31.

Brookfield has announced that the rate to be paid from Nov. 1, 2006 to October 31, 2011 on BAM.PR.G will be 4.35%, or $1.0875 per share per annum … something of a haircut from the 5.63% they’ve been paying for the last five years!

As previously noted, this issue is exchangeable into BAM.PR.E. The deadline for converting is Wednesday October 18.

BAM.PR.E closed 10/13 at 25.05-45; BAM.PR.G closed 10/13 at 25.00-15.

As noted in an earlier post, October 6 was the last day of trading in this issue … see RBC’s press release for more details.

 The security code for this issue was A45006 … the redemption price was $26.00 and there was an accrued dividend paid of $0.183836. October 6, 2006, was the last priced date in the database … October 10 is the first unpriced date.

Readers will be familiar with my earlier comments on this issue … price-wise, things worked out much as expected – the closing quotation was $24.50-55, 14×61. The volume was a surprise, however, with only 12,300 shares trading on its first day out, which can be interpreted in a number of ways.

 I suspect that the correct interpretation is simply that the issue got sold in large chunks to long term investors (e.g., Balanced and Dividend funds run by the big fundcos), who don’t care what price they pay, as long as they can put eight-figures “to work” on a single ticket – and probably all committed before the issue was even thought about! But who knows? We’ll just have to see how this thing looks going forward.

 I never did issue the press release I had been intending. After some thought, I decided that given the presence of such a close comparable as SLF.PR.C (which closed at $24.64-70, 9×70, on volume of 6,300) made the HIMIPref™ evaluation of the new issue as expensive somewhat less than startling news.

SLF.PR.D has been set up on HIMIPref™ and will be added to “PerpetualDiscount” index and prefInfo in the very near future. The Preissue Security Code was P50005; the permanent code is A48983.

The price is actually quite reasonable at 24.50-55 … Now that the Street has given Sun Life it’s $6-million gift (12-million shares, overpriced by about $0.50, according to the first day of trading, if nothing else), the issue is looking like a much more reasonable investment.