Category: Data Changes

One can say many things about Manulife, as a company and as an investment, but one cannot say that their dividend declaration policy is particularly investor-friendly.They have only just gotten around to declaring their current dividend. The table below shows the dividend information for MFC.PR.A:

Look at the way the record dates bounce around, with the February ’07 record date being egregiously late! This is not the type of predictability that builds markets in preferred shares.

HIMIPref™ previously recorded an estimate for the Feb ’07 dividend specifications; this has now been changed to reflect the announcement.

Update: I have sent a link to this post to Manulife Shareholder Services.

As noted earlier, all approvals for this merger were received. The merger has now been reflected on the TSX and FIG.PR.A is the continuing symbol. reorgDataEntries have been processed for each of the exchanges effected:

6,700 shares of FIG.PR.A traded today in a range of $10.01-15. The closing quotation was $10.05-10, 20×50. The TSX is now reporting 17,464,308 shares of this issue outstanding – quite a nice size for an interest bearing split share.

In the announcement of this new issue I claimed that the curvePrice of this issue was $24.73 and I am pleased to announce that the close on the first day of trading was $24.73, bang on. The closing quotation was $24.68-72, 8×66.

(Note: The link to “first day of trading” may not work as desired. It’s just a link to the SunLife press release on the SunLife site announcing completion of the issue. SunLife has some kind of bizarre script in place, presumably to ensure that their press releases remain secret.) 

Rather odd trading in this issue today, actually. The volume was 450,415, but there were only four trades after noon, totalling 6,420 shares. The trading range for the day was $24.64-75.

The issue has been added to HIMIPref™ and a reorgDataEntry processed to reflect the change from the preIssue securityCode of P50010 to the new security code of A48984.

I have added Income & Growth Split Trust Preferred Sec to the HIMIPref™ database for a number of reasons, mainly the probability that several other preferred securities I track will be converted into this security next week (FCI.PR.A, FCF.PR.A, FCN.PR.A).

I can’t say I’m a big fan of this issue. It has had a continuous call at par effective since issue date, which is annoying. I have long been an advocate of a declining call premium on split share preferreds, so that preferred holders have at least a sporting chance of a capital gain and can plan their portfolios with a bit more confidence.

According to their annual report, the fund had no redemptions in 2005, but this situation has changed markedly in 2006. The third-quarter report discloses that of the 5,545,000 units outstanding Dec. 31, 2005, 2,375,599 (or 42.8%) had been redeemed. No wonder they got the urge to merge!

Assuming they get approval, the underlying investments won’t be solely Income Trusts any more – the Investment strategy will include:

Subject to the Investment Restrictions, the net proceeds of any Offering, together with any amounts drawn under the Loan Facility, will under normal market conditions be invested by the Trust in an actively managed diversified portfolio of securities, consisting of the following asset classes: (i) Income Fund Securities, (ii) Dividend-Paying North American Equities, (iii) Non-Investment Grade Debt; (iv) Short Term Investments; (v) Convertible Debt; and (vi) other income-generating securities.’’

Which doesn’t sound exactly 100% thrilling, but as long as there’s a hefty asset coverage ratio, the pref holders shouldn’t mind.