There is an indication that Google has become a mature company – and that’s not a good thing:
But behind the scenes a more pedestrian drama was playing out. Executives at Google parent Alphabet Inc., absorbed with making sure all the various companies under its corporate umbrella have plans to generate real revenue, concluded that Boston Dynamics isn’t likely to produce a marketable product in the next few years and have put the unit up for sale, according to two people familiar with the company’s plans.
Possible acquirers include the Toyota Research Institute, a division of Toyota Motor Corp., and Amazon.com Inc., which makes robots for its fulfillment centers, according to one person. Google and Toyota declined to comment, and Amazon didn’t respond to requests for comment.
…
Boston Dynamics, though, was never folded into Google X and was instead put up for sale. After the division’s latest robot video was posted to YouTube, in February, Google’s public-relations team expressed discomfort that Alphabet would be associated with a push into humanoid robotics. Their subsequent e-mails were also published to the internal online forum and became visible to all Google employees.“There’s excitement from the tech press, but we’re also starting to see some negative threads about it being terrifying, ready to take humans’ jobs,” wrote Courtney Hohne, a director of communications at Google and the spokeswoman for Google X.
Hohne went on to ask her colleagues to “distance X from this video,” and wrote, “we don’t want to trigger a whole separate media cycle about where BD really is at Google.”
“We’re not going to comment on this video because there’s really not a lot we can add, and we don’t want to answer most of the Qs it triggers,” she wrote.
Demanding instant profitability … terrified of negative press … this is indicative of a company in which the careerists and managers have taken over from the innovators and visionaries. Don’t get me wrong – Google will, I am sure, continue to do excellent work. Just like Microsoft, they will be able to produce very high quality products simply by dint of their ability to spend more money on development than anybody else. But the situation with Boston Dynamics is an indication that their tenure as disruptors is over.
Pembina Pipelines has announced:
that it has entered into agreements to acquire certain sour natural gas processing assets (the “Acquired Assets”) from Paramount Resources (“Paramount”) for cash consideration of approximately $556 million, subject to customary closing adjustments (the “Transaction”).
The Acquired Assets include Paramount’s recently constructed Kakwa sour natural gas processing complex and associated infrastructure including gas gathering pipelines, sales gas pipeline and future disposal wells (the “Kakwa Assets”); and Paramount’s preliminary engineering studies, licenses and surface rights for the future construction of a sour natural gas processing facility (the “6-18 Facility”). The Transaction will add 250 million cubic feet per day (“mmcf/d”) of processing capacity in one of Pembina’s core areas. This will increase total processing capacity under Pembina’s Gas Services business to over 1.7 billion cubic feet per day (“bcf/d”), inclusive of the Musreau III and the Resthaven expansions which are expected to be on-stream by mid-2016, making Pembina one of the largest third-party gas processors serving the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
They later announced:
that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters, co-led by Scotiabank and RBC Capital Markets, pursuant to which the underwriters have agreed to purchase from Pembina on a “bought deal” basis and sell to the public 8,825,000 common shares at a price of $34.00 per share, for gross proceeds of approximately $300 million. Pembina has also granted the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase, on the same terms and exercisable not more than 30 days after the closing of the offering, up to an additional 1,323,750 common shares for additional gross proceeds of up to $45 million. Closing of the offering is expected to occur on or about March 29, 2016, in which case purchasers under this offering who are shareholders of record on April 25, 2016 (the “Record Date”) will be entitled to receive the Company’s monthly cash dividend payable on May 13, 2016 in respect of any common shares held on the Record Date.
Pembina intends to use the net proceeds from the offering, together with funds available under the Company’s existing credit facilities to finance the purchase price for its proposed acquisition of certain natural gas processing assets from Paramount Resources.
In response, DBRS announced that it:
notes that Pembina Pipeline Corporation (Pembina or the Company; rated BBB with a Stable trend by DBRS) has announced its agreement to acquire the Kakwa Assets and the 6-18 Facility (Acquisition Assets) from Paramount Resources, Inc. (Paramount) for total consideration of $556 million (the Acquisition). The purchase price will be funded by net proceeds from the Company’s concurrently announced $300 million bought deal common share financing and existing capacity under the $2.0 billion revolving credit facility. The Acquisition is expected to close in Q2 2016, pending approval under the Competition Act (Canada) and other customary closing conditions. Based on DBRS’s initial review of the Acquisition Assets and Pembina’s financing plan, DBRS believes that the Acquisition will not have a material impact on the Company’s credit profile.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
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| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 5.05 % | 6.15 % | 11,053 | 16.48 | 1 | -0.7407 % | 1,551.8 |
| FixedFloater | 7.03 % | 6.18 % | 24,480 | 16.11 | 1 | 0.0741 % | 2,827.3 |
| Floater | 4.72 % | 4.85 % | 66,039 | 15.80 | 4 | -1.3557 % | 1,639.1 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.3745 % | 2,756.0 |
| SplitShare | 4.83 % | 5.62 % | 71,608 | 1.65 | 7 | -0.3745 % | 3,225.1 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.3745 % | 2,516.3 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.80 % | -0.34 % | 89,036 | 0.08 | 6 | 0.0859 % | 2,543.3 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.69 % | 5.74 % | 100,014 | 14.21 | 33 | 0.2901 % | 2,548.0 |
| FixedReset | 5.50 % | 5.22 % | 191,562 | 14.20 | 87 | 0.3195 % | 1,854.7 |
| Deemed-Retractible | 5.29 % | 5.57 % | 121,422 | 5.11 | 34 | 0.3129 % | 2,573.3 |
| FloatingReset | 3.14 % | 5.16 % | 40,704 | 5.42 | 16 | 0.0345 % | 1,978.6 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| BAM.PR.K | Floater | -3.09 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 9.40 Evaluated at bid price : 9.40 Bid-YTW : 5.03 % |
| BAM.PR.X | FixedReset | -2.40 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 13.00 Evaluated at bid price : 13.00 Bid-YTW : 5.28 % |
| CIU.PR.C | FixedReset | -2.36 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 10.36 Evaluated at bid price : 10.36 Bid-YTW : 5.26 % |
| SLF.PR.H | FixedReset | -1.96 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 15.00 Bid-YTW : 9.91 % |
| TRP.PR.C | FixedReset | -1.74 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 11.30 Evaluated at bid price : 11.30 Bid-YTW : 5.21 % |
| MFC.PR.F | FixedReset | -1.29 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 12.24 Bid-YTW : 11.62 % |
| MFC.PR.K | FixedReset | -1.29 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 16.09 Bid-YTW : 9.31 % |
| MFC.PR.L | FixedReset | -1.26 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 16.42 Bid-YTW : 9.13 % |
| TRP.PR.B | FixedReset | -1.25 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 10.28 Evaluated at bid price : 10.28 Bid-YTW : 5.12 % |
| PVS.PR.D | SplitShare | -1.18 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2021-10-08 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 22.65 Bid-YTW : 6.61 % |
| TRP.PR.F | FloatingReset | -1.18 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 11.77 Evaluated at bid price : 11.77 Bid-YTW : 5.08 % |
| PWF.PR.P | FixedReset | -1.16 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 11.89 Evaluated at bid price : 11.89 Bid-YTW : 5.06 % |
| GWO.PR.N | FixedReset | -1.14 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 13.00 Bid-YTW : 10.66 % |
| BNS.PR.M | Deemed-Retractible | 1.07 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.52 Bid-YTW : 5.02 % |
| RY.PR.E | Deemed-Retractible | 1.08 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 24.36 Bid-YTW : 5.09 % |
| TRP.PR.A | FixedReset | 1.09 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 13.95 Evaluated at bid price : 13.95 Bid-YTW : 5.10 % |
| TD.PF.B | FixedReset | 1.14 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.70 Evaluated at bid price : 17.70 Bid-YTW : 4.59 % |
| SLF.PR.I | FixedReset | 1.15 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 17.60 Bid-YTW : 8.40 % |
| NA.PR.S | FixedReset | 1.15 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.58 Evaluated at bid price : 17.58 Bid-YTW : 4.83 % |
| HSE.PR.G | FixedReset | 1.19 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.85 Evaluated at bid price : 17.85 Bid-YTW : 6.18 % |
| BMO.PR.M | FixedReset | 1.21 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 23.47 Bid-YTW : 4.09 % |
| NA.PR.W | FixedReset | 1.21 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 16.75 Evaluated at bid price : 16.75 Bid-YTW : 4.88 % |
| W.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 1.27 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 22.91 Evaluated at bid price : 23.18 Bid-YTW : 6.03 % |
| MFC.PR.G | FixedReset | 1.37 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 17.80 Bid-YTW : 8.48 % |
| CM.PR.P | FixedReset | 1.38 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.64 Evaluated at bid price : 17.64 Bid-YTW : 4.60 % |
| CM.PR.O | FixedReset | 1.42 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.91 Evaluated at bid price : 17.91 Bid-YTW : 4.64 % |
| RY.PR.Z | FixedReset | 1.43 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.75 Evaluated at bid price : 17.75 Bid-YTW : 4.52 % |
| RY.PR.M | FixedReset | 1.51 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 18.13 Evaluated at bid price : 18.13 Bid-YTW : 4.83 % |
| MFC.PR.M | FixedReset | 1.55 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2025-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 17.65 Bid-YTW : 8.30 % |
| TRP.PR.E | FixedReset | 1.63 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.51 Evaluated at bid price : 17.51 Bid-YTW : 4.89 % |
| BMO.PR.S | FixedReset | 1.71 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.85 Evaluated at bid price : 17.85 Bid-YTW : 4.64 % |
| FTS.PR.M | FixedReset | 1.74 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 16.95 Evaluated at bid price : 16.95 Bid-YTW : 5.14 % |
| BAM.PF.C | Perpetual-Discount | 1.79 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 19.85 Evaluated at bid price : 19.85 Bid-YTW : 6.14 % |
| TD.PR.Z | FloatingReset | 2.09 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2022-01-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.00 Bid-YTW : 5.35 % |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | 2.14 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 9.55 Evaluated at bid price : 9.55 Bid-YTW : 6.67 % |
| FTS.PR.H | FixedReset | 2.16 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 11.36 Evaluated at bid price : 11.36 Bid-YTW : 5.13 % |
| RY.PR.H | FixedReset | 2.49 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.70 Evaluated at bid price : 17.70 Bid-YTW : 4.58 % |
| TD.PF.C | FixedReset | 2.82 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 17.85 Evaluated at bid price : 17.85 Bid-YTW : 4.54 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| HSE.PR.A | FixedReset | 251,009 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 9.55 Evaluated at bid price : 9.55 Bid-YTW : 6.67 % |
| CU.PR.E | Perpetual-Discount | 117,469 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 21.38 Evaluated at bid price : 21.67 Bid-YTW : 5.69 % |
| POW.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | 106,700 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 23.91 Evaluated at bid price : 24.37 Bid-YTW : 5.83 % |
| BNS.PR.G | FixedReset | 97,990 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2021-07-25 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.36 Bid-YTW : 5.23 % |
| BAM.PR.M | Perpetual-Discount | 96,592 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 19.80 Evaluated at bid price : 19.80 Bid-YTW : 6.02 % |
| BAM.PF.D | Perpetual-Discount | 95,090 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2046-03-17 Maturity Price : 20.05 Evaluated at bid price : 20.05 Bid-YTW : 6.14 % |
| There were 32 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| BNS.PR.D | FloatingReset | Quote: 17.09 – 17.72 Spot Rate : 0.6300 Average : 0.4388 YTW SCENARIO |
| BNS.PR.Y | FixedReset | Quote: 18.86 – 19.25 Spot Rate : 0.3900 Average : 0.2350 YTW SCENARIO |
| POW.PR.G | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 24.37 – 24.79 Spot Rate : 0.4200 Average : 0.2766 YTW SCENARIO |
| CU.PR.I | FixedReset | Quote: 25.15 – 25.50 Spot Rate : 0.3500 Average : 0.2224 YTW SCENARIO |
| BAM.PR.K | Floater | Quote: 9.40 – 9.85 Spot Rate : 0.4500 Average : 0.3278 YTW SCENARIO |
| PVS.PR.B | SplitShare | Quote: 23.83 – 24.30 Spot Rate : 0.4700 Average : 0.3491 YTW SCENARIO |