PrefBlog

BCE Inc. has announced (on 2023-1-13):

Holders of fixed-rate BCE Inc. Series AC Preferred Shares have the right to convert all or part of their shares, effective on March 1, 2023, on a one-for-one basis into floating-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AD of BCE Inc. (the “Series AD Preferred Shares”). In order to convert their shares, holders must exercise their right of conversion during the conversion period which runs from January 15, 2023 until 5:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on February 20, 2023.
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As of March 1, 2023, the Series AC Preferred Shares, should they remain outstanding, will pay, on a quarterly basis, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE Inc., a fixed cash dividend for the following five years that will be determined by BCE Inc. on February 6, 2023 but which shall not be less than 80% of the five-year Government of Canada Yield (as defined in BCE Inc.’s articles) compounded semi-annually and computed on February 6, 2023 by two investment dealers appointed by BCE Inc. The annual dividend rate applicable to the Series AC Preferred Shares will be published on February 8, 2023 in the national edition of The Globe and Mail, the Montreal Gazette and Le Devoir and will be posted on BCE Inc.’s website at www.bce.ca.

With respect to BCE.PR.D, they announced:

Holders of floating-rate BCE Inc. Series AD Preferred Shares have the right to convert all or part of their shares, effective on March 1, 2023, on a one-for-one basis into fixed-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AC of BCE Inc. (the “Series AC Preferred Shares”). In order to convert their shares, holders must exercise their right of conversion during the conversion period which runs from January 15, 2023 until 5:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on February 20, 2023.
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In order to exercise their conversion right in respect of all or part of their Series AD Preferred Shares, registered holders must provide a written notice thereof, accompanied by their Series AD Preferred Share certificates with the transfer form on the back thereof or other appropriate stock transfer power of attorney duly endorsed, and deliver them, at the latest by 5:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on February 20, 2023, to one of the following addresses of TSX Trust Company:…
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As of March 1, 2023, the Series AD Preferred Shares, should they remain outstanding, will continue to pay a monthly floating dividend based on a dividend rate that will fluctuate over time between 50% and 100% of the Prime rate (“Prime”) for each month computed in accordance with the articles of BCE Inc. Accordingly, from March 1, 2023, the holders of Series AD Preferred Shares will continue to be entitled to receive floating adjustable cash dividends, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE Inc., to be paid on the twelfth day of the subsequent month. The dividend rate will be adjusted upwards or downwards on a monthly basis by an Adjustment Factor (as described below) whenever the Calculated Trading Price, being the market price of the Series AD Preferred Shares computed in accordance with the articles of BCE Inc., is $24.875 or less or $25.125 or more, respectively. …

They have now announced:

BCE Inc. will, on March 1, 2023, continue to have Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AC (“Series AC Preferred Shares”) outstanding if, following the end of the conversion period on February 20, 2023, BCE Inc. determines that at least 2,500,000 Series AC Preferred Shares would remain outstanding. In such a case, as of March 1, 2023, the Series AC Preferred Shares will pay, on a quarterly basis, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE Inc., a fixed cash dividend for the following five years that will be based on an annual fixed dividend rate equal to 5.08%

BCE.PR.C is a FixedFloater that has been around for years. A conversion notice was sent in 2008 and it reset to 4.60%. About 55% was converted to BCE.PR.D. A conversion notice was sent in 2013 and it reset to 3.55%. A conversion notice was sent in 2018 and it reset to 4.38%. I recommended conversion.

BCE.PR.D is a RatchetRate preferred that was first issued by partial conversion from BCE.PR.C.

Thanks to Assiduous Reader newbiepref for bringing this to my attention

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2023 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Issue Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.