PrefBlog

Assiduous Readers will remember my rants about risk; risk is not something dumb, like “monthly volatility of portfolio value” (which, by the way, implicitly assumes that the critical consideration is Preservation of Capital); risk is the chance that a portfolio will not meet its objectives and hence cause the portfolio holder to revise his lifestyle downward from the expected level. I was pleased to find an essay today on this topic by Jean L.P. Brunel, titled Goals-Based Wealth Management in Practice:

Wealth management processes have not always been responsive to individual clients’ priorities and modes of thinking. A model is presented and evaluated that uses goals-based wealth management concepts to generate module-built portfolios, each of which is driven by a client’s expressed goals. This model allows for a high degree of flexibility and responsiveness to client needs with a practical level of standardization.

I can’t say I’m a fan of the module-based approach to implementation, however:

GenSpring uses four sets of goals-focused modules in creating portfolios:
1. Tax aware with nontraditional strategies,
2. Tax agnostic with nontraditional strategies,
3. Tax aware with only traditional strategies, and
4. Tax agnostic with only traditional strategies.

Goals-Focused Modules. Each of the four sets consists of nine modules that address all the categories of a client family’s needs. The modules are contiguous, but each module must be sufficiently different to distinguish it from the others. Each module must also be optimal within the constraints created by inevitable trade-offs while leaving room for flexibility.

Who woulda thunk it? Fiduciary rules have some drawbacks:

As brokers lay plans to satisfy new federal rules governing their relationships with retirement savers, one thing is becoming clear: Some clients will see their investment options diminished or face the prospect of higher fees.

Brokerage Edward Jones, anticipating the fiduciary rule that will require brokers to put the interests of retirement savers ahead of their own, said on Wednesday that it would stop offering mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in retirement accounts that charge investors a commission. The move makes the St. Louis firm the first big player to disclose detailed plans on retirement accounts that charge a commission.

Retirement savers could be forced to make decisions in the months ahead as other firms determine how they plan to operate under the Obama administration’s new rule, which starts to take effect in April. The rule doesn’t extend to nonretirement accounts.

I’ve heard that regulators everywhere are calling their kindergarten teachers and asking why everybody doesn’t just play nicely.

Spectra Energy has announced:

Westcoast Energy Inc. (the “Corporation”) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters co-led by TD Securities Inc. and CIBC Capital Markets. The underwriters have agreed to buy 8 million Cumulative 5-Year Minimum Rate Reset Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 12 (the “Series 12 First Preferred Shares”) at a price of $25.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $200,000,000. The proceeds are expected to be used to fund capital expenditures and for general corporate purposes.

The Corporation has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 2 million additional Series 12 First Preferred Shares at the offering price, exercisable until 48 hours prior to closing, which, if fully exercised, would increase the total gross proceeds of the Series 12 First Preferred Share offering to $250,000,000.

The Series 12 First Preferred Shares will be issued to the public at a price of $25.00 per share and holders will be entitled to receive fixed cumulative preferential cash dividends, payable by quarterly instalments for an initial period of five years, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of the Corporation, at a rate of $1.30 per share per annum, to yield 5.20% annually. Thereafter, the dividend rate will reset every five years to the sum of the then current 5-Year Government of Canada Bond yield and 4.52%, provided that, in any event, such rate shall not be less than 5.20%. On October 15, 2021, and on October 15 of every fifth year thereafter, the Corporation may redeem the Series 12 First Preferred Shares in whole or in part at par.

Holders will have the right to elect to convert all or any of their Series 12 First Preferred Shares into an equal number of Cumulative Floating Rate Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 13 (the “Series 13 First Preferred Shares”) on October 15, 2021, and on October 15 of every fifth year thereafter. Holders of the Series 13 First Preferred Shares will be entitled to receive quarterly floating rate cumulative preferential cash dividends, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of the Corporation, equal to the sum of the then current 3-month Government of Canada Treasury Bill yield and 4.52%. On October 15, 2026, and on October 15 of every fifth year thereafter, the Corporation may redeem the Series 13 First Preferred Shares in whole or in part at par. On any other date after October 15, 2026, the Corporation may redeem the Series 13 First Preferred Shares in whole or in part by the payment of $25.50 for each share to be redeemed.

The offering is being made only in the provinces of Canada under the Corporation’s short form base shelf prospectus dated March 18, 2016, and a prospectus supplement to such short form prospectus. The closing date of the offering is expected to be on or about August 30, 2016.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities, nor is it a solicitation of an offer to buy securities, in any jurisdiction. All sales will be made through registered securities dealers in jurisdictions where the offering has been qualified for distribution.

Westcoast Energy Inc. is an indirect subsidiary of Spectra Energy Corp.

They later announced:

that as a result of strong demand for its previously announced offering it has agreed to increase the size of the offering to 12 million Cumulative 5-Year Minimum Rate Reset Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 12 (the “Series 12 First Preferred Shares”) at a price of $25.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $300,000,000. There will not be an underwriters’ option as was previously granted. The Series 12 Preferred Shares are being offered on a bought deal basis by a syndicate of underwriters co-led by TD Securities Inc. and CIBC Capital Markets.

The proceeds are expected to be used to fund capital expenditures and for general corporate purposes.

The offering is being made only in the provinces of Canada under the Corporation’s short form base shelf prospectus dated March 18, 2016, and a prospectus supplement to such short form prospectus. The closing date of the offering is expected to be on or about August 30, 2016.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities, nor is it a solicitation of an offer to buy securities, in any jurisdiction. All sales will be made through registered securities dealers in jurisdictions where the offering has been qualified for distribution.

Westcoast Energy Inc. is an indirect subsidiary of Spectra Energy Corp.

This creates an interesting tension with W.PR.K, which is a FixedReset, 5.25%+426M525, that commenced 2015-12-15 after having been announced 2015-11-24, in that the new issue has a significantly higher spread but a slightly lower guarantee.

Hampton Creek, last discussed here on August 4 may have bought itself a world of trouble:

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into whether a San Francisco-based food technology startup broke the law by not disclosing that it was buying its own vegan mayonnaise from stores, which made the product appear to be more successful than it was, according to people familiar with the matter.

The agency is trying to determine whether Josh Tetrick’s Hampton Creek Inc. improperly recognized revenue from purchases made with company money, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matter isn’t public. The opening of an SEC inquiry into the buybacks is a preliminary step and doesn’t mean the company will face an enforcement action.

In drone news, Intel touts a drone platform:

Intel Corporation today announced its involvement in the development of multiple best-in-class unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, showcasing how they interact with their environment, solve problems and thrill users by helping them explore and interact with their worlds unlike ever before.

Intel® Aero Platform for UAVs

Intel’s® Aero Platform is available today for developers to build their own drones. This purpose-built, UAV developer kit powered by an Intel® Atom™ quad-core processor combines compute, storage, communications and flexible I/O all in a form factor the size of a standard playing card. When matched with the optional Vision Accessory Kit, developers will have tremendous opportunities to launch sophisticated drone applications into the sky. Aero supports several “plug and play” options, including a flight controller with Dronecode PX4 software, Intel® RealSense™ technology for vision, AirMap SDK for airspace services, and will support LTE for communications. The Intel Aero Platform is available for pre-order now on click.intel.com – the Intel Aero compute board is $399, the Intel Aero Vision Accessory Kit is $149, and the Intel Aero Enclosure Kit is $69. A separate Intel Aero Platform Ready-to-Fly Drone will be available in Q4.