PrefBlog

Capital Power Corporation has announced:

that it intends to redeem all of its 6,000,000 issued and outstanding 5.75% Cumulative Minimum Rate Reset Preference Shares, Series 11 (the “Series 11 Shares”) (TSX: CPX.PR.K) on June 30, 2024 (the “Redemption Date”) at a price of $25.00 per share (the “Redemption Price”) for an aggregate total of $150 million, less any tax required to be deducted and withheld by the Company. As June 30, 2024 is not a business day payment of the Redemption Price will occur on July 2, 2024.

As previously announced, the Company’s Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.359375 per Series 11 Share payable on June 28, 2024 (the “Q2 2024 Quarterly Dividend”) to shareholders of record as of June 17, 2024. This will be the final quarterly dividend on the Series 11 Shares.

The Company has provided notice today of the Redemption Price and the Redemption Date to the sole registered holder of the Series 11 Shares in accordance with their terms. Non-registered holders of Series 11 Shares should contact their broker or other intermediary for information regarding the redemption process for the Series 11 Shares in which they hold a beneficial interest.

This follows yesterday’s announcement of the possibility and indicates that the company was able to raise funds at an attractive price on the hybrid bond market – which may be taken as an indication that not only is the preferred share market cheap relative to other markets, but that even junk issuers are able to access financing at a better price.

CPX.PR.K was issued as a FixedReset 5.75%+415M575 issue that commenced trading 2019-5-16 after being announced 2019-5-7. The potential for redemption was announced 2024-5-14. The issue has been tracked by HIMIPref™ but relegated to the Scraps – FixedReset (Discount) subindex on credit concerns.

Thanks to Assiduous Reader IrateAR for bringing this to my attention!

Update, 2024-6-5: Interesting addendum to the refunding:

DBRS Limited (Morningstar DBRS) assigned a rating of BB with a Stable trend to Capital Power Corporation’s (CPC or the Company) $450 million 8.125% Fixed-to-Fixed Rate Subordinated Notes, Series 2 due June 5, 2054 (Subordinated Notes Series 2). Concurrently, Morningstar DBRS placed CPC’s existing 7.95% Fixed-to-Fixed Rate Subordinated Notes, Series 1 due September 9, 2082 (Subordinated Notes Series 1) Under Review with Developing Implications.

The Subordinated Notes Series 1 and Subordinated Notes Series 2 rank equally in right of payment until the occurrence of certain bankruptcy and related events at which time the Subordinated Notes Series 1 would automatically convert into preferred shares. The Subordinated Notes Series 1 would then rank below the Subordinated Notes Series 2. According to Morningstar DBRS’ Hierarchy Principle, as outlined in the Morningstar DBRS “Credit Ratings Global Policy,” the Subordinated Notes Series 1 would be subordinate to the Subordinated Notes Series 2 in the event of insolvency of the Company. Due to our Hierarchy Principle the Subordinated Notes Series 1 should be rated one notch below the Subordinated Notes Series 2, implying a downgrade to BB (low) from BB.

However, CPC has indicated that it is evaluating possible options, including a potential solicitation process to amend the terms so the Subordinated Notes Series 1 rank pari passu in the event of insolvency with the Subordinated Notes Series 2. Based on the Company’s intent to seek noteholder approval to make the subordinated notes pari passu, Morningstar DBRS has placed the Subordinated Notes Series 1 Under Review with Developing Implications. Following a successful process that would result in the Subordinated Notes Series 1 being ranked pari passu in the event of insolvency with the Subordinated Notes Series 2, Morningstar DBRS will remove the Under Review with Developing Implications designation from the Subordinated Notes Series 1 and confirm their rating at BB with a Stable trend. Conversely, a lack of progress to make the notes pari passu over the next few months could result in Morningstar DBRS downgrading the Subordinated Notes Series 1 to BB (low). Morningstar DBRS aims to resolve any Under Review action within 90 days.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 at 9:14 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.