PrefBlog

Pacific & Western Bank has announced:

that it plans to raise up to $15 million in Canada through the issuance of additional Class B preferred shares, common shares, or a combination of both, by way of short form prospectus (the “Offering”).

Byron Securities Limited (“Byron”) will be the lead manager for the Offering and will be responsible for creating a selling group for this issue. A decision as to what securities to offer under the prospectus will be decided by PWC prior to filing the preliminary prospectus based on market demand and through discussions with Byron.

The Offering will be conducted in each province and territory of Canada (other than Quebec) and is subject to all necessary regulatory approval.

PWC’s Class B Preferred shares trade on the TSX under the symbol PWC.PR.B and its common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol PWC.

PWC.PR.B was last mentioned on PrefBlog when a tranche was issued in January. PWC.PR.B is not tracked by HIMIPref™.

R Split III Corp. has announced:

that it has called 559,447 Preferred Shares for cash redemption on May 31, 2010 (in accordance with the Company’s Articles) representing approximately 25.690% of the outstanding Preferred Shares as a result of the annual retraction of 1,118,894 Capital Shares by the holders thereof. The Preferred Shares shall be redeemed on a pro rata basis, so that each holder of Preferred Shares of record on May 28, 2010 will have approximately 25.690% of their Preferred Shares redeemed. The redemption price for the Preferred Shares will be $29.22 per share.

In addition, holders of a further 1,996 Capital Shares and 998 Preferred Shares have deposited such shares concurrently for retraction on May 31, 2010. As a result, a total of 1,120,890 Capital Shares and 560,445 Preferred Shares, or approximately 25.7239% of both classes of shares currently outstanding, will be redeemed.

Holders of Preferred Shares that are on record for dividends but have been called for redemption will be entitled to receive dividends thereon which have been declared but remain unpaid up to but not including May 31, 2010.

Payment of the amount due to holders of Preferred Shares will be made by the Company on May 31, 2010. From and after May 31, 2010 the holders of Preferred Shares that have been called for redemption will not be entitled to dividends or to exercise any rights in respect of such shares except to receive the amount due on redemption.

R Split III Corp. is a mutual fund corporation created to hold a portfolio of common shares of Royal Bank of Canada.

RBS.PR.A is scheduled to mature 2012-5-31. RBS.PR.A was last mentioned on PrefBlog when it was upgraded to Pfd-3 by DBRS. RBS.PR.A is not tracked by HIMIPref™.

Brompton Split Banc Corp. has announced:

that it has filed a preliminary prospectus relating to an offering of warrants to Class A shareholders of the Company. Each Class A shareholder will receive one half warrant for each Class A share held on a record date which will be set upon filing of the final prospectus.

One warrant will entitle the holder to purchase a Unit (consisting of one Class A share and one Preferred share of the Company) upon payment of the subscription price, which will be determined as the lesser of: (i) $22.36 (which is the sum of (a) the most recently calculated NAV per Unit prior to the date hereof and (b) the estimated per Unit fees and expenses of the offering), and (ii) the most recently calculated NAV per Unit prior to the date of filing the final prospectus plus the estimated per Unit fees and expenses of the offering. The Company has applied to list the warrants and the Class A shares and Preferred shares issuable on the exercise thereof on the TSX.

Successful completion of the warrants offering will provide the Company with additional capital that can be used to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities and it is also expected to increase the trading liquidity of the Class A shares and Preferred shares and reduce the ongoing management expense ratio of the Company.

A 50% increase in size – if the offering is fully subscribed – will be a welcome addition to the $53-million-odd outstanding at year end according to the fund’s 2009 Annual Report.

SBC.PR.A was last mentioned on PrefBlog when I reported the April 2009 reinstatement of the Capital Units dividend. SBC.PR.A is tracked by HIMIPref™, but is relegated to the Scraps index on credit concerns.

Life & Banc Split Corp. has announced:

that it has filed a preliminary prospectus relating to an offering of warrants to Class A shareholders of the Company. Each Class A shareholder will receive one half warrant for each Class A share held on a record date which will be set upon filing of the final prospectus.

One warrant will entitle the holder to purchase a Unit (consisting of one Class A share and one Preferred share of the Company) upon payment of the subscription price, which will be determined as the lesser of: (i) $19.31 (which is the sum of (a) the most recently calculated NAV per Unit prior to the date hereof and (b) the estimated per Unit fees and expenses of the offering), and (ii) the most recently calculated NAV per Unit prior to the date of filing the final prospectus plus the estimated per Unit fees and expenses of the offering. The Company has applied to list the warrants and the Class A shares and Preferred shares issuable on the exercise thereof on the TSX.

Successful completion of the warrants offering will provide the Company with additional capital that can be used to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities and it is also expected to increase the trading liquidity of the Class A shares and Preferred shares and reduce the ongoing management expense ratio of the Company.

If fully subscribed, the 50% increase in issue size will be a very welcome addition to the $100-million-odd reported in the 2009 Annual Report.

LBS.PR.A was last mentioned on PrefBlog when it was downgraded to Pfd-3 by DBRS. LBS.PR.A is tracked by HIMIPref™, but is relegated to the Scraps index on credit concerns.

B Split II Corp. has announced:

The Capital Shares and Preferred Shares will be redeemed by the Company on June 1, 2010 (the “Redemption Date”) in accordance with the redemption provisions as detailed in the prospectus dated May 25, 2005. Pursuant to these provisions, the Preferred Shares will be redeemed at a price per share equal to the lesser of $9.75 and the net asset value per Unit. The Capital Shares will be redeemed at a price per share equal to the amount by which the net asset value per Unit exceeds $9.75. The net asset value per Unit was $21.30 as at May 12, 2010.

Holders of Capital Shares who requested to receive their redemption payment in BCE Inc. common shares (“BCE Shares”) and gave notice to this effect and tendered $9.75 for every Capital Share by May 3, 2010 will receive their pro rata share of the BCE Shares. The redemption of Capital Shares and Preferred Shares will constitute a taxable disposition of the Company’s shares at the time of the redemption whether the payment is received in the form of cash or BCE Shares.

A further press release will be issued by the Company in connection with the redemption prices on May 27, 2010. Payment of the amounts due to holders of Capital Shares and Preferred Shares will be made by the Company on June 1, 2010.

BXN.PR.B was last mentioned on PrefBlog when it was downgraded to Pfd-3 by DBRS. BXN.PR.B is not tracked by HIMIPref™.

Update, 2010-5-28: Redemption price announcement.