PrefBlog

DBRS has announced that it:

upgraded Sun Life Financial Inc.’s (SLF or the Company) Issuer Rating and Senior Unsecured Debentures rating to A (high) from “A,” its Subordinated Unsecured Debentures rating to “A” from A (low) and its Preferred Shares rating to Pfd-2 (high) from Pfd-2.
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The ratings upgrade recognizes the Company’s improved franchise strength, the increasing diversification of earnings across its four core business segments and its excellent capitalization. Furthermore, DBRS Morningstar has gained comfort from management’s actions over the past year to turn around the performance of SLF’s legacy U.S. individual life block that is in run-off, including the reserve strengthening, which should reduce the probability of the block adversely impacting results. The ratings also consider the Company’s exposure to operational risk arising from operating in multiple jurisdictions with varying degrees of geopolitical risk in Asia, as well as its guaranteed products in Canada that can result in profit volatility. Also a ratings constraint is SLF’s higher proportion of mortgages, BBB-rated bonds and corporate loans in the Company’s investment portfolio relative to those of similarly rated peers.
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SLF and its main operating insurance subsidiary, SLA, are maintaining strong regulatory capital ratios. Indeed, with sizable cushions over regulatory minimums under the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT) framework that was implemented in 2018, DBRS Morningstar views the Company as very well positioned to navigate adverse scenarios. As of Q2 2019, the LICAT for the consolidated holding company was 144%, higher than SLA’s LICAT of 133%, as the holding company held $2.2 billion of additional assets comprising cash and other liquid assets. Solid earnings in the last five years have also contributed to the Company’s strong capitalization level. Moreover, financial leverage remains conservative at 20.4% with a fixed-charge coverage ratio of 9.0 times as of Q2 2019.

Affected issues are: SLF.PR.A, SLF.PR.B, SLF.PR.C, SLF.PR.D, SLF.PR.E, SLF.PR.G, SLF.PR.H, SLF.PR.I, SLF.PR.J and SLF.PR.K.

Dividend 15 Split Corp. II has released its Semi-Annual Report to May 31, 2019.

Figures of interest are:

MER: “A separate base management expense ratio has been presented to reflect the normal operating expenses of the Company excluding any one time offering expenses. Management expense ratio is based on total expenses for the stated period and is expressed as an annualized percentage of average net asset value during the period.” The fund reports a figure of 1.04%

Average Net Assets: We need this to calculate portfolio yield. The Total Assets of the fund at fiscal year end was $234.4-million, compared to $241.6-million on May 31, so call it an average of $238.0-million. Preferred share dividends of $4,313,981 were paid over the half year at 0.525 p.a., implying average units outstanding 16.44-million, at an average NAVPU of (14.26 + 14.70)/2 = 14.48, implies net assets of $238.0-million. Say the Average Net Assets are the average of the two estimates, $238.0-million.

Underlying Portfolio Yield: Income received of $4,592,138 divided by average net assets of $238.0-million, multiplied by two because it’s semiannual is 3.86%.

Income Coverage: Net investment income of $3,351,881 (after expenses, before transaction costs, before capital gains) divided by preferred share dividends of $4,313,981 is 78%.

The income coverage calculated is a bit less than the DBRS calculation in May 2019:

The dividend coverage ratio was approximately 0.8x.

Dividend Growth Split Corp has released its Semi-Annual Report to June 30, 2019.

Figures of interest are:

MER: ” The MER excluding Preferred share distributions and issuance costs was 0.88% in the first six months of 2019, unchanged from the same period in 2018.”

Average Net Assets: We need this to calculate portfolio yield. The Total Assets of the fund at year end was $499.6-million, compared to $549.9-million on June 30, so call it an average of $524.8-million. Preferred share dividends of $9,584,220 were paid over the half year at 0.525 p.a., implying average units outstanding 36.51-million, at an average NAVPU of (14.97 + 13.60)/2 = 14.28, implies net assets of $521.4-million. Say the Average Net Assets are the average of the two estimates, $523.1-million.

Underlying Portfolio Yield: Income received of $10,898,580 divided by average net assets of $523.1-million, multiplied by two because it’s semiannual is 4.17%.

Income Coverage: Net investment income of $8,543,279 (after expenses, before capital gains) divided by preferred share dividends of $9,584,220 is 89%.

The income coverage calculated is a bit less than the DBRS calculation in September 2019:

The dividend coverage ratio is approximately 1.0 times.

Quadravest has announced (on September 19):

North American Financial 15 Split Corp. (the “Company”) announced previously on February 21, 2019 it will extend the termination date of the Company a further five year period from December 1, 2019 to December 1, 2024.

In connection with the extension, the Company is entitled to amend the prescribed minimum annual rate of cumulative preferential monthly dividends to be paid to the FFN.PR.A Preferred Shares (“Preferred Shares”) for the five year renewal period, commencing December 1, 2019. The Company may also amend the dividend entitlement of the Preferred Shares on an annual basis. Based on current market rates for preferred shares with similar terms, the minimum annual rate for the five year term will be set at 5.5% and the annual payment rate will remain unchanged at 5.5% per annum, based on the $10 repayment value. The Preferred shareholders have received a total of $7.85 per share in distributions since inception. The dividend policy for the FFN Class A Shares (“Class A Shares”) will remain unchanged.

In relation to the term extension and the Preferred Share minimum rate increase, the Company has an additional retraction right for those shareholders not wishing to continue holding their investment, allowing existing shareholders to tender one or both classes of Shares and receive a retraction price based on the November 29, 2019 net asset value per unit. Alternatively, shareholders may sell their shares for the market price at any time, potentially at a higher price than would be achieved through retraction, or shareholders may take no action and continue to hold their shares.

The Company invests in a high quality portfolio consisting of 15 financial services companies made up of Canadian and U.S. issuers as follows: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Great-West Lifeco, CI Financial Corp, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

The extension to 2024-12-1 was previously reported. The dividend rate was increased to 5.50% in 2017 and has remained there since. The name of the fund was changed from Financial 15 Split Corp. II in 2015. The term was extended in 2014 after the first extension in 2007. The issue had an exciting time during the Credit Crunch.

It will be recalled that TD.PF.A will reset at 3.662% effective October 31, 2019

TD.PF.A is a FixedReset, 3.90%+224, NVCC-compliant issue that commenced trading 2014-6-4 after being announced 2014-5-26. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ and is assigned to the FixedReset – Discount subindex.

The most logical way to analyze the question of whether or not to convert is through the theory of Preferred Pairs, for which a calculator is available. Briefly, a Strong Pair is defined as a pair of securities that can be interconverted in the future (e.g. TD.PF.A and the FloatingReset that will exist if enough holders convert). Since they will be interconvertible on this future date, it may be assumed that they will be priced identically on this date (if they aren’t then holders will simply convert en masse to the higher-priced issue). And since they will be priced identically on a given date in the future, any current difference in price must be offset by expectations of an equal and opposite value of dividends to be received in the interim. And since the dividend rate on one element of the pair is both fixed and known, the implied average rate of the other, floating rate, instrument can be determined. Finally, we say, we may compare these average rates and take a view regarding the actual future course of that rate relative to the implied rate, which will provide us with guidance on which element of the pair is likely to outperform the other until the next interconversion date, at which time the process will be repeated.

We can show the break-even rates for each FixedReset / FloatingReset Strong Pair graphically by plotting the implied average 3-month bill rate against the next Exchange Date (which is the date to which the average will be calculated).

Click for Big

The market appears to have lost its fleeting interest in floating rate product; the implied rates until the next interconversion are well below the current 3-month bill rate as the averages for investment-grade and junk issues are at +0.70% and +0.84%, respectively. Whatever might be the result of the next few Bank of Canada overnight rate decisions, I suggest that it is unlikely that the average rate over the next five years will be lower than current – but if you disagree, of course, you may interpret the data any way you like.

Since credit quality of each element of the pair is equal to the other element, it should not make any difference whether the pair examined is investment-grade or junk, although we might expect greater variation of implied rates between junk issues on grounds of lower liquidity, and this is just what we see.

If we plug in the current bid price of the TD.PF.A FixedReset, we may construct the following table showing consistent prices for its soon-may-be-issued FloatingReset counterpart given a variety of Implied Breakeven yields consistent with issues currently trading:

Based on current market conditions, I suggest that the FloatingResets that will result from conversion are likely to trade below the price of their FixedReset counterparts, TD.PF.A. Therefore, I recommend that holders of TD.PF.A continue to hold the issue and not to convert. I will note that once the FloatingResets commence trading (if, in fact, they do) it may be a good trade to swap one issue for the other in the market once both elements of each pair are trading and you can – hopefully – do it with a reasonably good take-out in price, rather than doing it through the company on a 1:1 basis. But that, of course, will depend on the prices at that time and your forecast for the path of policy rates over the next five years. There are no guarantees – my recommendation is based on the assumption that current market conditions with respect to the pairs will continue until the FloatingResets commence trading and that the relative pricing of the two new pairs will reflect these conditions.

Those who wish to convert are advised that the deadline for notifying the company of such a desire is 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on October 16, 2019. This is the Wednesday following Thanksgiving, i.e., the second trading day following this post. Brokers and other intermediaries generally set their internal deadlines a day or two in advance of this date, so if you wish to convert there’s no time to waste! Note that brokers will, in general, try to execute the instruction on a ‘best efforts’ basis if received between the two deadlines, provided that the procrastinating shareholder grovels entertainingly enough.

It will be recalled that TRP.PR.E will reset at 3.762% effective October 30, 2019

TRP.PR.E is a FixedReset, 4.25%+235, that commenced trading 2014-1-20 after being announced 2014-1-13. Notice of extension was provided on 2019-9-18. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ and assigned to the FixedReset-Discount subindex.

The most logical way to analyze the question of whether or not to convert is through the theory of Preferred Pairs, for which a calculator is available. Briefly, a Strong Pair is defined as a pair of securities that can be interconverted in the future (e.g. TRP.PR.E and the FloatingReset that will exist if enough holders convert). Since they will be interconvertible on this future date, it may be assumed that they will be priced identically on this date (if they aren’t then holders will simply convert en masse to the higher-priced issue). And since they will be priced identically on a given date in the future, any current difference in price must be offset by expectations of an equal and opposite value of dividends to be received in the interim. And since the dividend rate on one element of the pair is both fixed and known, the implied average rate of the other, floating rate, instrument can be determined. Finally, we say, we may compare these average rates and take a view regarding the actual future course of that rate relative to the implied rate, which will provide us with guidance on which element of the pair is likely to outperform the other until the next interconversion date, at which time the process will be repeated.

We can show the break-even rates for each FixedReset / FloatingReset Strong Pair graphically by plotting the implied average 3-month bill rate against the next Exchange Date (which is the date to which the average will be calculated).

Click for Big

The market appears to have lost its fleeting interest in floating rate product; the implied rates until the next interconversion are well below the current 3-month bill rate as the averages for investment-grade and junk issues are at +0.70% and +0.84%, respectively. Whatever might be the result of the next few Bank of Canada overnight rate decisions, I suggest that it is unlikely that the average rate over the next five years will be lower than current – but if you disagree, of course, you may interpret the data any way you like.

Since credit quality of each element of the pair is equal to the other element, it should not make any difference whether the pair examined is investment-grade or junk, although we might expect greater variation of implied rates between junk issues on grounds of lower liquidity, and this is just what we see.

If we plug in the current bid price of the TRP.PR.E FixedReset, we may construct the following table showing consistent prices for its soon-may-be-issued FloatingReset counterpart given a variety of Implied Breakeven yields consistent with issues currently trading:

Based on current market conditions, I suggest that the FloatingResets that will result from conversion are likely to trade below the price of their FixedReset counterparts, TRP.PR.E. Therefore, I recommend that holders of TRP.PR.E continue to hold the issue and not to convert. I will note that once the FloatingResets commence trading (if, in fact, they do) it may be a good trade to swap one issue for the other in the market once both elements of each pair are trading and you can – hopefully – do it with a reasonably good take-out in price, rather than doing it through the company on a 1:1 basis. But that, of course, will depend on the prices at that time and your forecast for the path of policy rates over the next five years. There are no guarantees – my recommendation is based on the assumption that current market conditions with respect to the pairs will continue until the FloatingResets commence trading and that the relative pricing of the two new pairs will reflect these conditions.

Those who wish to convert are advised that the deadline for notifying the company of such a desire is 5 p.m. (EDT) on October 15, 2019. This is the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, i.e., the first trading day following this post. Brokers and other intermediaries generally set their internal deadlines a day or two in advance of this date, so if you wish to convert there’s no time to waste! Note that brokers will, in general, try to execute the instruction on a ‘best efforts’ basis if received between the two deadlines, provided that the procrastinating shareholder grovels entertainingly enough.