The captioned series of Brookfield Properties Corp. Cl AAA Preferred shares will be voting on June 3 on a Plan of Arrangement. The company has published the Management Proxy Circular.
BPO.PR.U is USD denominated. We won’t worry about that.
In a nutshell:
The BPO Convertible Preferred Shares (being the BPO Preferred Shares, Series G, H, J and K) are currently convertible at the option of BPO into BPO Common Shares and redeemable for cash. In addition, starting on September 30, 2015, December 31, 2015, December 31, 2014 and December 31, 2016, respectively, each of the four series of BPO Convertible Preferred Shares will be convertible at the option of the holders into BPO Common Shares. If a holder exercises its conversion right, BPO has the overriding right to exercise its redemption right and redeem the shares for cash. In connection with the acquisition of the remaining BPO Common Shares and delisting from the TSX and NYSE, holders of outstanding BPO Convertible Preferred Shares are being given the option to elect either:
(a) to exchange their BPO Convertible Preferred Shares for BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares, subject to minimum listing requirements and a maximum of 1,000,000 BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares issued per series, pro-rated as set out in herein, or
(b) to continue holding their BPO Convertible Preferred Shares, the conditions of which will be modified in order to provide for the BPO Convertible Preferred Shares to be exchangeable into BPY Units rather than convertible into BPO Common Shares.
The BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares have been structured to provide a holder thereof with economic terms that are substantially equivalent to those of the BPO Convertible Preferred Shares. The four series of BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares will each have the same dividend and redemption rights as the corresponding series of BPO Convertible Preferred Shares. However, in lieu of being convertible into BPO Common Shares, the BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares will be retractable at any time by the holder. For further information on the BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares, see ‘‘— BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares’’.
With respect to the BPO Split Senior Preferred Shares, conversion will take place for each series only if at least 80,000 shares are converted, and only up to a limit of 1,000,000 shares. The following share numbers are now outstanding:
| BPO Shares Outstanding | |
| Ticker | Shares |
| BPO.PR.U | 4,400,000 |
| BPO.PR.H | 8,000,000 |
| BPO.PR.J | 8,000,000 |
| BPO.PR.K | 6,000,000 |
Clearly, therefore, most of the shares will be modified, as in option (b), above, and be convertible into BPY Units rather than convertible into BPO Common Shares.
So what’s interesting is option (a): should holders seek conversion into the Split Corp?
The interesting part of the deal is that
Each BOP Split Senior Preferred Share will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed, jointly and severally, by the Guarantors, including BPO, as to (i) the payment of dividends, as and when declared, on the BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares, (ii) the payment of amounts due on redemption of the BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares, and (iii) the payment of the amounts due on BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares on the liquidation, dissolution and winding-up of BOP Split (the ‘‘BOP Split Senior Preferred Share Guarantee’’). The BOP Split Senior Preferred Share Guarantee will be subordinated to all of the respective senior and subordinated debt of the Guarantors that is not expressly stated to be pari passu with or subordinate to the BOP Split Senior Preferred Share Guarantee and will rank senior to the equity securities of the Guarantors.
… and the Split Corp Preferred will be retractible:
Retraction
Subject to the restrictions imposed by applicable law, each series of the BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares is retractable by the holder at any time for the following amounts:
Series 1 [was BPO.PR.U]: $23.75 per share if redeemed before September 30, 2015 and $25.00 per share if redeemed thereafter;
Series 2 [was BPO.PR.H]: C$23.75 per share if redeemed before December 31, 2015 and C$25.00 per share if redeemed thereafter;
Series 3 [was BPO.PR.J]: C$23.75 per share if redeemed before December 31, 2014 and C$25.00 per share if redeemed thereafter;
Series 4 [was BPO.PR.K]: C$23.75 per share if redeemed before December 31, 2016 and C$25.00 per share if redeemed thereafter;together with all accrued and unpaid dividends to the applicable retraction date. Retraction payments will be made on or before the last day of each month provided that the certificate(s) representing the BOP Split Senior Preferred Shares have been surrendered for retraction at least one business day before the last day of the preceding month.
What to decide? Holders of the split-shares will have the option of retraction prior to the scheduled date at 23.75, which will be a loss, but might conceivably come in useful if the company gets into extremely serious trouble in the extremely short term. This isn’t too likely, but the protection doesn’t cost any money. So that’s a plus.
It will likely cost liquidity, though, since a maximum of 1-million shares of each series will be outstanding – these things are going to trade by appointment only; therefore, those to whom liquidity is important should retain their BPO Convertible Preferred Shares. Additionally, those with small holdings and high transaction costs should also retain their BPO Convertible Preferred Shares, since there is a good chance they will be left holding some of each issue if the maximum conversion amount is reached. So these are minuses.
I make no recommendation. The decision will depend on each holders desire for a (miniscule) extra amount of credit protection (with the early retraction privilege) vs. what could potentially be a very severe loss of liquidity.
