BCE.PR.I To Reset To 5.10%

BCE has announced (but not on their website, because that would be too much work. Not by answering my eMail, because that would be too much work. Not by ensuring that “Business Classified” ads are easy to find on on the Globe & Mail and Montreal Gazette websites, because that would be too much work. No sir, they announced it with a print ad in the G&M, because that’s the way Gran’pa did it and he was a really smart man. I have photographed the ad and uploaded it, so you saw it here first! Welcome to Canada / Bienvenue au Canada):

This follows their Notice to holders of Series AI, June 18, 2026 (which they have gotten around to uploading):

Holders of fixed-rate BCE Inc. Series AI Preferred Shares have the right to convert all or part of their shares, effective on August 4, 2026, on a one-for-one basis into floating-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series AJ of BCE Inc. (the “Series AJ Preferred Shares”). In order to convert their shares, holders must exercise their right of conversion during the conversion period which runs from June 17, 2026 until 5:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on July 22, 2026.
…
As of August 4, 2026, the Series AI 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 July 7, 2026 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 July 7, 2026 by two registered Canadian investment dealers appointed by BCE Inc. The annual dividend rate applicable to the Series AI Preferred Shares will be published on July 9, 2026 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.

In my taxonomy of preferred shares, BCE.PR.I is a FixedFloater and BCE.PR.J, its counterpart, is a RatchetRate preferred.

Update, 2026-07-21: Bell’s Investor Relations department answered my question today. Break out the champagne!

Update, 2026-07-22: I have sent the following eMail to the Investor Relations department:

Sirs,

Thank you for your reply dated July 21 to my inquiry of July 10. Your response raises a number of questions:

1) Why did it take eleven days to answer such a simple query?

2) I see that the preferred share information page at https://www.bce.ca/investors/shares-and-dividends/preferred-shares has at last been updated, but that it hadn’t been as of my prior information dated July 15. Why was there such a delay in updating such important information as the new rate on your website?

3) I have seen other reports of investors receiving responses to their inquiries on July 21. Were your responses to inquiries all, or mostly, delayed to this late date? According to your notice dated June 18 at https://www.bce.ca/cs-assets/Series-AI-Reset-Conversion-Notice-EN.pdf-blt62f176e0f7a3f0dd , the deadline for BCE to receive notice of conversion was July 22. When delays at intermediaries are considered this leaves virtually no time for an investor to make a considered decision regarding conversion. What was the reason for such an egregious delay?

Sincerely,

Update, 2026-7-29: There being no response to my inquiry of 2026-7-22, I have sent a follow-up.

Update, 2026-8-5: There being no response to my inquiry of 2026-7-22, I have sent a follow-up.

Update, 2026-8-10: I have received a reply from BCE Investor Relations:

Thank you for your patience, and I apologize for both the delay in our initial response and the delay in updating our website.

On timing: the annual dividend rate for the Series AI Preferred Shares was published in the national edition of The Globe and Mail, the Montreal Gazette and Le Devoir on July 10, 2026, satisfying the notice requirement under the terms of the shares. The rate was not reflected on bce.ca until July 21, which fell short of the commitment in our June 18 notice to post it to the website, and I regret that gap. Our reply to your July 10 inquiry was also slower than it should have been.

We recognize that, with the conversion election deadline of July 22, the website delay compressed the window for shareholders relying on that channel. We are correcting the underlying process so that, going forward, the website is updated the same day the rate is published in the newspapers.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please don’t hesitate to contact us directly with any further questions.

I have responded:

Thank you. I do hope that future shareholder notices of a similar nature will be posted on your website simultaneously with the classified ads in the three major newspapers.