PrefBlog

Great-West Lifeco Inc. has announced:

that holders of 59,830 Lifeco Non-Cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset First Preferred Shares, Series N (the “Series N Shares”) have elected to convert their shares into Non-Cumulative Floating Rate First Preferred Shares, Series O (the “Series O Shares”) and that holders of 547,303 Series O Shares have elected to convert their shares into Series N Shares.

Lifeco currently has 8,524,422 Series N Shares and 1,475,578 Series O Shares outstanding. After taking into account all shares tendered for conversion, there would be less than one million Series O Shares outstanding on December 31, 2020. As a result and in accordance with the terms and conditions attached to the shares, no Series N Shares may be converted into Series O Shares and all remaining Series O Shares will automatically be converted into Series N Shares on a one-for-one basis on December 31, 2020. Lifeco will give written notice to that effect to any registered holder on or before Thursday, December 24, 2020.

Following the automatic conversion, Lifeco will have 10,000,000 Series N Shares and no Series O Shares issued and outstanding. The Series N Shares and Series O Shares are currently listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols GWO.PR.N and GWO.PR.O, respectively.

GWO.PR.N was issued as a FixedReset, 3.65%+130, that commenced trading 2010-11-23 after being announced 2010-11-15. The issue was met with disfavour and there was an inventory clearance sale closing 2010-12-3. After a notice of extension the issue issue reset to 2.176% in 2015. I recommended against conversion; there was a 15% conversion to the FloatingReset GWO.PR.O anyway. The company provided another notice of extension in November, 2020. The issue will reset to 1.749% effective 2020-12-31. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ and is assigned to the FixedReset (Insurance) subindex.

GWO.PR.O is a FloatingReset, Bills+130, that arose in 2015 via a partial conversion from GWO.PR.N. GWO.PR.O is tracked by HIMIPref™ but has been relegated to the Scraps – FloatingReset subindex on volume concerns.

Capital Power Corporation has announced:

that after having taken into account all Election Notices following the December 16, 2020 conversion deadline, in respect of the Cumulative Rate Reset Preference Shares, Series 1 (Series 1 Shares) tendered for conversion into Cumulative Floating Rate Preference Shares, Series 2 (Series 2 Shares), the holders of Series 1 Shares were not entitled to convert their shares. There were 687,245 Series 1 Shares tendered for conversion, which was less than the required one million shares required for conversion into Series 2 Shares.

There are five million Series 1 Shares listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol CPX.PR.A. Effective December 31, 2020, the Annual Fixed Dividend Rate for the next five-year period has been reset to 2.62100%.

For more information on the terms of, and risks associated with an investment in the Series 1 Shares, please see Capital Power’s (final) short form prospectus dated December 8, 2010 which is available on sedar.com or on Capital Power’s website at capitalpower.com.

CPX.PR.A was issued as a FixedReset 4.60%+217 that commenced trading 2010-12-16 after being announced 2010-12-1. It reset to 3.06% effective 2015-12-31 and I recommended against conversion; there was no conversion to FloatingResets. It will reset to 2.621% effective 2020-12-31. The issue is tracked by HIMIPref™ but is relegated to the Scraps – FixedReset (Discount) subindex on credit concerns.

Enbridge Inc. has announced:

that Westcoast Energy Inc. (“Westcoast”) intends to exercise its right to redeem all of its outstanding Cumulative 5-Year Minimum Rate Reset Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series 10 (“Series 10 Shares”) on January 15, 2021 at a price of $25.00 per Series 10 Share, together with all accrued and unpaid dividends, if any.

Beneficial holders who are not directly the registered holders of the Series 10 Shares should contact the financial institution, broker or other intermediary through which they hold these shares to confirm how they will receive their redemption proceeds. Inquiries from registered shareholders should be directed to Westcoast’s Registrar and Transfer Agent, Computershare Investor Services Inc., at 1 800-564-6253 (Canada and United States) or 1-514-982-7555 (Outside North America).

W.PR.K was issued as a FixedReset, 5.25%+426M525, that commenced trading 2015-12-15 after being announced 2015-11-24.

DBRS has announced that it:

placed iA Financial Corporation Inc.’s (iA or the Company) Issuer Rating of A (low) and Subordinated Debentures rating of BBB (high) Under Review with Positive Implications. DBRS Morningstar also placed the Issuer Rating of A (high), the Financial Strength Rating of A (high), the Subordinated Debentures rating of “A,” and the Non-Cumulative Preferred Shares rating of Pfd-2 (high) for Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc., iA’s major insurance operating subsidiary, Under Review with Positive Implications.

KEY RATING CONSIDERATIONS
The Under Review with Positive Implications status reflects DBRS Morningstar’s view that iA has made significant efforts over the past few years to improve its risk profile, in particular its sensitivities to market-related risks. The Company has materially reduced its sensitivities to interest rate and equity market movements, an important consideration given the relatively large proportion of individual insurance and segregated fund products in the Company’s product portfolio, and the sustained low interest rate environment that continues to put pressure on life insurers. The Company has also experienced some success in shifting its product portfolio toward less capital-intensive products, reducing the level of guarantees offered and increasing its proportion of fee-based business. During the review period, which is expected to be concluded within 90 days, DBRS Morningstar will focus on the Company’s improving capabilities in limiting the impact of adverse market movements on its net income and regulatory solvency ratios. In addition, DBRS Morningstar will assess the impact of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), which has been more limited than expected so far, on iA’s credit fundamentals.

Affected issues are IAF.PR.B, IAF.PR.G and IAF.PR.I. There was ticker change for these issues in 2019.