OK, so this is sufficiently funny and problematic enough to warrant a midday post.
As noted in both press releases quoted in the post New Issue: PVS SplitShare, 4.45%, 7-Year, the new issue “will have a final maturity of May 31, 2029”.
However, if one visits SEDAR and searches for “Partners Value Split Corp. Mar 18 2022 20:31:23 ET Prospectus (non pricing) supplement (other than ATM) – English PDF 528 K” (I’m not allowed to link it directly, because the Canadian Securities Administrators consider prospectuses and other public documents to be TOP SECRET and don’t want investor scum to have easy access), one finds an interesting definition on page S-4 (bolding from original):
Series 13 Preferred Shares may be redeemed by the Company at any time on or after May 31, 2027 and prior to May 31, 2028 (the “Series 13 Redemption Date”)
This definition may be compared with another definition on page S-14 (bolding from original):
Series 13 Preferred Shares may be redeemed by the Company at any time on or after May 31, 2027 and prior to May 31, 2029 (the “Series 13 Redemption Date”)
So not only has somebody fallen down a bit on the proofreading aspect of things, but I am a little startled to learn that big-shot Bay Street lawyers don’t have some kind of automatic editor in their prospectus writing software that would check for duplicate definitions and, ideally, make an alphabetized list that could be easily checked.
I have telephoned the company and will report back if I get an answer.
Afficionados of prospectus errors will remember the story of RY.PR.W; I have heard rumours to the effect that it was convertible to equity only by accident.
Update, 2022-3-22: No response from the company. You just can’t get help any more.
[…] added to the SplitShare subindex. Neither the press release nor anything on SEDAR mentions their screw-up with the definition of the ‘Series 13 Redemption Date’, let alone clarifying the issue. Naturally, given the uselessness of the company administration, my […]