PrefBlog

Cenovus Energy Inc. has announced (on March 18):

274,160 of its 10,435,932 Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 1 (Series 1 Shares) have been tendered for conversion on March 31, 2021, on a one-for-one basis, into Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 2 (Series 2 Shares) and 577,882 of its 1,564,068 Series 2 Shares have been tendered for conversion, on a one-for-one basis, into Series 1 Shares.

As of March 31, 2021 Cenovus will have 10,739,654 Series 1 Shares and 1,260,346 Series 2 Shares issued and outstanding. The Series 1 Shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CVE.PR.A and the Series 2 Shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CVE.PR.B.

CVE.PR.A was issued as HSE.PR.A, a FixedReset, 4.45%+173, on 2011-3-18 after being announced 2011-3-10. Notice of extension was published in February, 2016 and the issue reset to 2.404%. I recommended against conversion but there was a 13% conversion to the FloatingReset HSE.PR.B anyway. The ticker changed to CVE.PR.A following the Plan of Arrangement between HSE and CVE. CVE.PR.A reset to 2.577% in 2021.

CVE.PR.B is a FloatingReset, Bills+173, that arose via a partial conversion from HSE.PR.A to HSE.PR.B in 2016. The ticker changed to CVE.PR.B following the Plan of Arrangement between HSE and CVE.

BCE Inc. has announced (on March 17): that 42,423 of its 9,542,615 fixed-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AM (“Series AM Preferred Shares”) have been tendered for conversion on March 31, 2021, on a one-for-one basis, into floating-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AN (“Series AN Preferred Shares”). In addition, 939,786 of its 1,952,085 Series AN Preferred Shares have been tendered for conversion on March 31, 2021, on a one-for-one basis, into Series AM Preferred Shares. Consequently, on March 31, 2021, BCE will have 10,439,978 Series AM Preferred Shares and 1,054,722 Series AN Preferred Shares issued and outstanding. The Series AM Preferred Shares and the Series AN Preferred Shares will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols BCE.PR.M and BCE.PR.N, respectively.

The Series AM Preferred Shares will pay on a quarterly basis, for the five-year period beginning on March 31, 2021, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE, a fixed quarterly cash dividend based on an annual dividend rate of 2.939%.

The Series AN Preferred Shares will continue to pay, for each quarterly period, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE Inc., a quarterly floating cash dividend based on the T-Bill Rate for such quarterly period plus 2.09%, calculated in accordance with the articles of BCE. The floating dividend rate applicable to the Series AN Preferred Shares for the quarterly period beginning on March 31, 2021 is 0.53927% (annual rate of 2.163% based on a T-Bill Rate of 0.073%).

BCE.PR.M was issued as BAF.PR.A, a FixedReset 4.85%+209, issued 2011-3-15 after being announced 2011-2-22. After an exchange offer for the BAF preferreds, there was a partial conversion to BCE preferreds, followed by a forced conversion in 2014. The ticker changed to BCE.PR.M in September, 2014. BCE.PR.M reset to 2.764% in 2016. I recommended against conversion but there was a 17% conversion to the FloatingReset, BCE.PR.N, anyway. In 2021, BCE.PR.M reset to 2.939%.

BCE.PR.N is a FloatingReset, Bills+209, that arose through partial conversion from the FixedReset, BCE.PR.M, in 2016.