Category: Issue Comments

TransAlta Corp. has announced:

it has completed its public offering of 10,000,000 Cumulative Rate Reset First Preferred Shares, Series A (the “Series A Shares”). In addition, the full option granted to the syndicate of underwriters led by CIBC World Markets Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and Scotia Capital Inc., as bookrunners, was exercised for an additional 2,000,000 Series A Shares also at a price of $25.00 per Series A Share.

The offering, previously announced on December 2, 2010, resulted in gross proceeds to TransAlta of Cdn $300 million. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to partially fund capital projects, for other general corporate purposes and to reduce short term indebtedness of the company and its affiliates, which short term indebtedness was used to fund TransAlta’s capital program and for general corporate purposes. TransAlta may invest funds that it does not immediately require in short term marketable debt securities.

The Series A Shares were offered to the public in Canada through the underwriters or their affiliates by way of a prospectus supplement that was filed with securities regulatory authorities in Canada under TransAlta’s short form base shelf prospectus, which was previously filed with securities regulatory authorities in Canada.

Holders of Series A Shares are entitled to receive a cumulative quarterly fixed dividend yielding 4.60% annually for the initial period ending March 31, 2016. Thereafter, the dividend rate will be reset every five years at a rate equal to the 5-year Government of Canada bond yield plus 2.03%. Holders of Series A Shares will have the right, at their option, to convert their shares into Cumulative Rate Reset First Preferred Shares, Series B (the “Series B Shares”), subject to certain conditions, on March 31, 2016 and on March 31 every five years thereafter. Holders of Series B Shares will be entitled to receive cumulative quarterly floating dividends at a rate equal to the three-month Government of Canada Treasury Bill yield plus 2.03%. The Series A Shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TA.PR.D.

The 4.60%+203 FixedReset was announced on December 2.

The issue traded 591,764 shares today in a range of 24.80-97 before closing at 24.93-94, 50×80. Vital statistics are:

Dividend Growth Split Corp. has announced:

that it has completed its treasury offering of 1,100,000 class A shares and 1,100,000 preferred shares for aggregate gross proceeds of $21,230,000. Shares will continue to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the existing symbols DGS (class A shares) and DGS.PR.A (preferred shares).

Dividend Growth Split Corp. invests in a portfolio of common shares of high quality, large capitalization companies, which have among the highest dividend growth rates of those companies included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index.
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The preferred shares were offered at a price of $10.00 per share. The investment objectives for the preferred shares are to provide their holders with fixed cumulative preferential quarterly cash distributions in the amount of $0.13125 per preferred share to yield 5.25% per annum on the original issue price, and to return the original issue price at the time of redemption on November 30, 2014.

The class A shares were offered at a price of $9.30 per share. The investment objectives for the class A shares are to provide their holders with regular monthly cash distributions targeted to be $0.10 per class A share, and to provide the opportunity for growth in net asset value per class A share.

The offering was placed through a group of agents co-led by RBC Capital Markets and CIBC World Markets Inc., and included TD Securities Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., GMP Securities L.P., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., Mackie Research Capital Corporation, Macquarie Private Wealth Inc., Manulife Securities Incorporated, Raymond James Ltd., Canaccord Genuity Corp., Dundee Securities Corporation, Desjardins Securities Inc., and Wellington West Capital Markets Inc

DGS.PR.A was last mentioned on PrefBlog when the offering was announced. DGS.PR.A is not tracked by HIMIPref™ as it is too small … but that excuse won’t hold up for much longer if they keep up the pace of treasury offerings!

Big 8 Split Corp. has announced:

that it has called a total of 410,530 Preferred Shares, comprised of 194,191 Class B Preferred Shares and 216,339 Class C Preferred Shares, for cash redemption on December 15, 2010 representing approximately 18.2% of all outstanding Preferred Shares as a result of holders of 410,530 Capital Shares exercising their special annual retraction rights. The Preferred Shares shall be redeemed on a pro rata basis, so that holders of record of Preferred Shares on the close of business on December 14, 2010 will have approximately 18.2% of their Preferred Shares redeemed. The redemption price of $12.00 per share, will be paid on December 15, 2010. Holders of Preferred Shares that have been called for redemption will only be entitled to receive dividends thereon which have been declared but remain unpaid up to and including December 15, 2010

In addition, holders of a further 1,000 Preferred and Capital Shares have deposited such shares concurrently for retraction on December 15, 2010. As a result, a total of 411,530 Preferred and Capital Shares, or approximately 18.2% of both classes of shares currently outstanding will be redeemed.

Payments and delivery of cash and common shares owing as a result of shareholders having exercised their retraction privilege and the above notice of call, will be made by the Company on December 15, 2010.

BIG.PR.B was last discussed on PrefBlog when it was downgraded to Pfd-2 by DBRS. BIG.PR.C was last discussed when there was a partial take-up of the issuance greenshoe. Neither BIG.PR.B nor BIG.PR.C are tracked by HIMIPref™.

Allbanc Split Corp. II has announced:

that holders of its Class A Capital Shares have approved a share capital reorganization (the “Reorganization”) allowing holders of Class A Capital Shares, at their option, to retain their investment in the Company after the scheduled redemption date of February 28, 2011. The Reorganization will permit holders of Class A Capital Shares to extend their investment in the Company beyond the redemption date of February 28, 2011 for an additional 5 years. The Class A Preferred Shares will be redeemed on the same terms originally contemplated in their share provisions and will be called for redemption on or about February 28, 2011. In order to maintain the leveraged “split share” structure of the Company, a new class of shares to be known as the Series 1 Preferred Shares will be created and issued.

Holders of Class A Capital Shares who do not wish to continue their investment in the Company after February 28, 2011 must give notice that they wish to exercise their special retraction right and how they wish to be paid for their shares on or prior to January 7, 2011. Holders of Class A Capital Shares who retract their Class A Capital Shares will be paid on or about February 28, 2011. The Reorganization will become effective provided that holders of at least 2,667,000 Class A Capital Shares retain their Class A Capital Shares and do not exercise the special retraction right.

ALB.PR.A was last mentioned on PrefBlog when the reorganization proposal was approved by the directors. ALB.PR.A is tracked by HIMIPref™ but is relegated to the Scraps index on credit concerns.

DBRS has announced that it:

has today upgraded the Preferred Securities issued by Brookfield Soundvest Split Trust (the Trust) to Pfd-4 (low) from Pfd-5 (high).
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As of September 30, 2010, the Portfolio primarily consisted of various types of income trusts. The composition of the Portfolio may change significantly in 2011 as more income trusts convert to corporations. The Portfolio provides downside protection of approximately 29% to the holders of the Preferred Securities (as of November 30, 2010).

Over the past four months, the net asset value (NAV) of the Trust has increased from $12.41 to $14.07, an increase of approximately 13%. Furthermore, the downside protection has fluctuated between 16% and 29% in 2010 to date compared with 2% to 15% from August to November 2009. This significant increase in protection has resulted in an upgrade in the rating of the Preferred Securities to Pfd-4 (low) from Pfd-5 (high). The upgrade has been limited to one notch due to the lower credit quality of the Portfolio (the majority of its holdings are not rated by any rating agency) and uncertainty related to the potential reduction in income earned on the Portfolio because of the impending taxation of Canadian income trusts.

The redemption date for the Preferred Securities is March 31, 2015.

BSD.PR.A was last mentioned on PrefBlog when an extraordinatry resolution was passed allowing the fund to invest in other instruments beside income trusts. BSD.PR.A is tracked by HIMIPref™ but is relegated to the Scraps index on credit concerns.

CIU.PR.C, the 3.80%+136 FixedReset announced November 16, has settled.

The issue traded 294,500 shares in a very tight range of 25.00-05 before closing at 25.00-09, 10×10.

Vital statistics are:

CIU.PR.C is tracked by HIMIPref™ and has been assigned to the FixedReset index.

These are total returns, with dividends presumed to have been reinvested at the bid price on the ex-date. The list has been restricted to issues in the HIMIPref™ indices.

Dividend 15 Split Corp. has announced:

that it has filed a short form prospectus in each of the provinces of Canada with respect to an additional offering of Preferred Shares and Class A Shares. The offering will be co-led by RBC Capital Markets and CIBC World Markets.

The proceeds from the re-opening of the Company, net of expenses and the Agents’ fee, will be used by the Company to invest in an actively managed portfolio of dividend-yielding common shares which includes each of the 15 Canadian companies listed below. These are currently among the highest dividend-yielding securities in the S&P/TSX 60 Index:

The preliminary prospectus has all the numbers and dates of interest dotted out.

DFN.PR.A was last mentioned on PrefBlog when their secondary offering last spring raised just over $50-million. DFN.PR.A is tracked by HIMIPref™ but is relegated to the Scraps index on credit concerns.

GWO.PR.N, a 3.65%+130 FixedReset which met with a lackadaisical reception when it settled on November 23, has apparently proved to be a tough sell – the underwriters are attempting to blow out their inventory at 24.50, with the repriced offering closing on December 3.

Still looks expensive according to me – that’s a pretty skimpy Issue Reset Rate and one must assume that it will never be called – but what do I know? Toronto Stock Exchange volume is about 440,000 shares as of 1pm, traded in a range of 24.48-54.

Canada Life Financial Corporation has announced:

that it intends to redeem all 6,000,000 of its Series B Preferred Shares on December 31, 2010.

A formal notice and instructions for the redemption of the Series B Preferred Shares will be forwarded to shareholders in accordance with the rights, privileges, restrictions and conditions attached to the Series B Preferred Shares.

The redemption price will be $25.00 for each Series B Preferred Share plus an amount equal to all declared and unpaid dividends, up to but excluding the redemption date, less any tax required to be deducted and withheld by CLFC. The paid-up capital of each Series B Preferred Share is $25.00.

CLFC was established in 1999. CLFC’s principal subsidiary, The Canada Life Assurance Company, was founded in 1847 and provides insurance and wealth management products and services in Canada, the United Kingdom, Isle of Man, Ireland and Germany. CLFC and Canada Life are subsidiaries of The Great-West Life Assurance Company, and members of the Power Financial Corporation group of companies.

Finally! This issue has spent considerable time over the years trading well above its current call price, but those parsimonious gnomes at GWO just had to wait until the first day of its par call!