AltaGas Ltd. has announced:
that it does not intend to exercise its right to redeem its currently outstanding Cumulative Redeemable Five-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series C (the “Series C Shares”) (TSX:ALA.PR.U) on September 30, 2017. As a result, subject to certain conditions, the holders of the Series C Shares have the right to convert all or part of their Series C Shares on a one-for-one basis into Cumulative Redeemable Floating Rate Preferred Shares, Series D of AltaGas (the “Series D Shares”) on September 30, 2017. Holders who do not exercise their right to convert their Series C Shares into Series D Shares will retain their Series C Shares.
The foregoing conversion right is subject to the conditions that: (i) if AltaGas determines that there would be less than 1,000,000 Series C Shares outstanding after September 30, 2017, then all remaining Series C Shares will automatically be converted into Series D Shares on a one-for-one basis on September 30, 2017; and (ii) alternatively, if AltaGas determines that there would be less than 1,000,000 Series D Shares outstanding after September 30, 2017, no Series C Shares will be converted into Series D Shares. There are currently 8,000,000 Series C Shares outstanding.
With respect to any Series C Shares that remain outstanding after September 30, 2017, holders shall be entitled to receive, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of AltaGas, fixed cumulative preferential cash dividends, payable quarterly. The new annual dividend rate applicable to the Series C Shares for the five-year period commencing on September 30, 2017 to, but excluding, September 30, 2022 will be 5.29 percent, being equal to the five-year United States Government bond yield of 1.71 percent determined as of today plus 3.58 percent.
With respect to any Series D Shares that may be issued on September 30, 2017, holders shall be entitled to receive, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of AltaGas, quarterly floating rate cumulative preferential cash dividends. The dividend rate applicable to the Series D Shares for the three-month floating rate period commencing on September 30, 2017 to, but excluding, December 31, 2017 will be 4.62 percent, based on the annual rate on three-month United States Government treasury bills for the most recent treasury bills auction of 1.04 percent plus 3.58 percent (the “Floating Quarterly Dividend Rate”). The Floating Quarterly Dividend Rate will be reset every quarter.
Beneficial holders of Series C Shares who wish to exercise their right of conversion during the conversion period, which runs from August 31, 2017 until 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on September 15, 2017, should communicate as soon as possible with their broker or other intermediary for more information. It is recommended that this be done well in advance of the deadline in order to provide the broker or other intermediary with time to complete the necessary steps. Any notices received after this deadline will not be valid.
Subject to the terms and conditions of the Series C Shares and Series D Shares and AltaGas’ right to redeem such shares, holders of the Series C Shares and the Series D Shares will have the opportunity to convert their shares again on September 30, 2022, and every five years thereafter as long as the Series C and Series D Shares remain outstanding.
ALA.PR.U was issued FixedReset, US-Pay, 4.40%+358, that commenced trading 2012-6-6 after being announced 2012-5-29.
As this is a USD-denominated issue it is not tracked by HIMIPref™ and there will be no recommendation regarding converting or holding.
Thanks to Assiduous Reader CanSiamCyp for bringing this to my attention!
[…] ALA.PR.U was issued FixedReset, US-Pay, 4.40%+358, that commenced trading 2012-6-6 after being announced 2012-5-29. It reset to 5.29% in 2017. […]
[…] FixedReset, US-Pay, 4.40%+358, that commenced trading 2012-6-6 after being announced 2012-5-29. It reset to 5.29% in 2017. The possibility of a redemption was announced earlier this […]