BCE Inc. has announced:
that all of its floating-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AN (“Series AN Preferred Shares”) will be converted on March 31, 2026, on a one-for-one basis, into fixed-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AM (“Series AM Preferred Shares”).
On March 2, 2026, notice was provided that holders of Series AM Preferred Shares could elect to convert their shares into Series AN Preferred Shares and that holders of Series AN Preferred Shares could elect to convert their shares into Series AM Preferred Shares, subject to the terms and conditions attached to those shares. A total of 2,276 of its 8,802,551 Series AM Preferred Shares have been tendered for conversion on March 31, 2026, on a one-for-one basis, into Series AN Preferred Shares. In addition, 348,545 of its 948,622 Series AN Preferred Shares have been tendered for conversion on March 31, 2026, on a one-for-one basis, into Series AM Preferred Shares. As this would result in there being less than 1,000,000 Series AN Preferred Shares outstanding, all remaining Series AN Preferred Shares not tendered for conversion will, as per the terms and conditions attached to those shares, be automatically converted into Series AM Preferred Shares on March 31, 2026.
The Series AM Preferred Shares will pay on a quarterly basis, for the five-year period beginning on March 31, 2026, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE, a fixed quarterly cash dividend based on an annual dividend rate of 4.837%. The Series AM Preferred Shares will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol BCE.PR.M.
BCE.PR.M was issued as BAF.PR.A, a FixedReset 4.85%+209, issued 2011-3-15 after being announced 2011-2-22. After an exchange offer for the BAF preferreds, there was a partial conversion to BCE preferreds, followed by a forced conversion in 2014. The ticker changed to BCE.PR.M in September, 2014. BCE.PR.M reset to 2.764% in 2016. I recommended against conversion but there was a 17% conversion to the FloatingReset, BCE.PR.N, anyway. In 2021, BCE.PR.M reset to 2.939% and there was a 8% conversion to the FloatingReset. In 2026, the issue reset to 4.837%.
BCE.PR.N is a FloatingReset, Bills+209, that arose through partial conversion from the FixedReset, BCE.PR.M, in 2016.