PrefBlog

Manulife Financial Corporation has announced (although not yet on their website):

the applicable dividend rates for its Non-cumulative Rate Reset Class 1 Shares Series 11 (the “Series 11 Preferred Shares”) (TSX: MFC.PR.J) and Non-cumulative Floating Rate Class 1 Shares Series 12 (the “Series 12 Preferred Shares”).

With respect to any Series 11 Preferred Shares that remain outstanding after March 19, 2023, holders thereof will be entitled to receive fixed rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of Manulife and subject to the provisions of the Insurance Companies Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the five-year period commencing on March 20, 2023, and ending on March 19, 2028, will be 6.15900% per annum or $0.384938 per share per quarter, being equal to the sum of the five-year Government of Canada bond yield as at February 21, 2023, plus 2.61%, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Series 11 Preferred Shares.

With respect to any Series 12 Preferred Shares that may be issued on March 20, 2023 in connection with the conversion of the Series 11 Preferred Shares into the Series 12 Preferred Shares, holders thereof will be entitled to receive floating rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, calculated on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed in each quarterly floating rate period divided by 365, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of Manulife and subject to the provisions of the Insurance Companies Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the three-month period commencing on March 20, 2023, and ending on June 19, 2023, will be 1.80975% (7.18000% on an annualized basis) or $0.452438 per share, being equal to the sum of the three-month Government of Canada Treasury bill yield as at February 21, 2023, plus 2.61%, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Series 12 Preferred Shares.

Beneficial owners of Series 11 Preferred Shares who wish to exercise their right of conversion should instruct their broker or other nominee to exercise such right before 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on March 6, 2023. The news release announcing such conversion right was issued on January 31, 2023 and can be viewed on SEDAR or Manulife’s website. Conversion inquiries should be directed to Manulife’s Registrar and Transfer Agent, TSX Trust Company, at 1–800–783–9495.

The Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) has conditionally approved the listing of the Series 12 Preferred Shares effective upon conversion. Listing of the Series 12 Preferred Shares is subject to Manulife fulfilling all the listing requirements of the TSX and, upon approval, the Series 12 Preferred Shares will be listed on the TSX under the trading symbol “MFC.PR.S”.

MFC.PR.J was issued as a FixedReset, 4.00%+261 that commenced trading 2012-12-4 after being announced 2012-11-27. After the 2018 notice of extension it reset to 4.731%; I recommended against conversion; and there was no conversion. Notice of extension was provided in 2023. The issue is tracked by HIMIPref™ and is assigned to the Insurance FixedReset (Discount) sub-index.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 21st, 2023 at 10:31 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.