PrefBlog

In keeping with its policy of contempt for the preferred shareholders who provide a chunk of its financing, Enbridge has again decided not to publicize events related to its ENB.PR.B issue, its extension, reset and conversion privilege.

Assiduous Readers will recall that ENB.PR.B will reset to 3.415% effective 2017-6-1. It was issued as a 4.00%+240 FixedReset which commenced trading 2011-9-30 after being announced 2011-9-21.

An inquiry to Enbridge Investor Relations elicited the response:

Approximately 1.7 million Series B will be converted into Cs and those Cs will start to trade on the TSX on June 1.

It will be remembered that I recommended against conversion.

Market conditions with respect to FixedReset / FloatingReset equivalency have not changed significantly since my recommendation:

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ECN Capital Corp. has announced:

that it has closed the previously announced offering of 4,000,000 6.25% Cumulative 5-Year Minimum Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series C (the “Series C Preferred Shares”) at a price of $25.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $100,000,000. The offering was conducted by a syndicate of underwriters co-led by BMO Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, National Bank Financial, RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities, and including Cormark Securities, Desjardins Securities, GMP Securities, HSBC Securities (Canada) and Raymond James.

The Corporation intends to use the net proceeds to originate and finance, directly and indirectly, finance assets, to fund future acquisitions and for general corporate purposes.

“We are grateful for the support shown by the market in the successful completion of this financing”, said Steve Hudson, Chief Executive Officer, “and we look forward to executing on our business plan and delivering value for our shareholders.”

The Series C Preferred Shares will commence trading today on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “ECN.PR.C”.

ECN.PR.C is a FixedReset, 6.25%+519M625, announced 2017-5-15. It will be tracked by HIMIPref™ but relegated to the Scraps subindex on credit concerns.

The issue traded 99,442 shares today in a range of 24.43-75 before closing at 24.44-52. Vital statistics are:

Canadian Utilities Limited has announced:

that after having taken into account all election notices following the conversion deadline for the Cumulative Redeemable Second Preferred Shares Series Y (“Series Y Preferred Shares”) tendered for conversion into Cumulative Redeemable Second Preferred Shares Series Z (“Series Z Preferred Shares”), the holders of Series Y Preferred Shares are not entitled to convert their Series Y Preferred Shares into Series Z Preferred Shares. There were approximately 508,379 Series Y Preferred Shares tendered for conversion, which is less than the two million shares required to give effect to conversions into Series Z Preferred Shares.

The Series Y Preferred Shares will continue to pay on a quarterly basis, for the five-year period from and including June 1, 2017 to but excluding June 1, 2022, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of Canadian Utilities Limited, a fixed dividend based on an annual dividend rate of 3.40%.

Assiduous Readers will remember that I recommended against conversion after the reset to 3.40% for CU.PR.C.

So CU.PR.C is now a FixedReset, 3.4O%+240. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ and is assigned to the FixedReset subindex.

Intact Financial Corporation has announced:

that it has closed its previously announced bought deal offering of 6,000,000 Class A Series 5 Preferred Shares (the “Series 5 Shares”) (the “Offering”) underwritten by a syndicate of underwriters (the “Underwriters”) led by CIBC Capital Markets together with BMO Capital Markets, National Bank Financial and TD Securities Inc., resulting in gross proceeds (including the proceeds resulting from the exercise of their option) to IFC of $150 million.

The net proceeds from the Offering are intended to be used by IFC to fund a portion of the purchase price for its previously announced acquisition (the “Acquisition”) of all of the issued and outstanding shares of OneBeacon Insurance Group, Ltd. (“OneBeacon”). The closing of the Acquisition is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2017 and is subject to approval by OneBeacon’s shareholders and receipt of required regulatory approvals. If the Acquisition is not completed, the net proceeds of this Offering will be used for general corporate purposes.

Each Series 5 Share entitles the holder thereof to receive quarterly non-cumulative preferential cash dividends, if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors, on the last day of March, June, September and December in each year at a rate equal to $0.325 per share. The initial dividend, if declared, will be payable on September 30, 2017 and will be $0.45945 per share.

The Series 5 Shares will commence trading today on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol IFC.PR.E

IFC.PR.E is a Straight Perpetual, 5.20%, announced 2017-5-12. It will be tracked by HIMIPref™ and has been assigned to the DeemedRetractible subindex.

As this issue is not NVCC compliant, it will be analyzed as a DeemedRetractible. Note, however, that this carries more uncertainty than it does with most other insurers because Intact is a P&C insurer, not a life company.

The issue traded 601,313 shares today in a range of 24.90-00 before closing at 24.91-95. Vital statistics are:

Great-West Lifeco Inc. has announced:

the completion of its offering of 8,000,000 5.15% Non-Cumulative First Preferred Shares, Series T through a syndicate of underwriters co-led by BMO Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, Scotiabank and TD Securities Inc. for gross proceeds of $200 million. The Series T Shares will be listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “GWO.PR.T”.

GWO.PR.T is a Straight Perpetual, 5.15%, announced 2017-05-09. The issue will be tracked by HIMIPref™ and has been assigned to the DeemedRetractible subindex.

As this issue is not NVCC compliant, it will be analyzed as a DeemedRetractible.

The issue traded 837,263 shares in a range of 24.95-05 before closing at 24.95-96. Vital statistics are:

There has been a little flattening in the curve (i.e., a decline of Implied Volatility) in the Implied Volatility for Straights analysis:

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