MAPF

MAPF Portfolio Composition: August, 2017

Turnover continued to ease to about 8% in a very quiet August.

There is extreme segmentation in the marketplace, with OSFI’s NVCC rule changes in February 2011 having had the effect of splitting the formerly relatively homogeneous Straight Perpetual class of preferreds into three parts:

  • Unaffected Straight Perpetuals
  • DeemedRetractibles explicitly subject to the rules (banks)
  • DeemedRetractibles considered by me, but not (yet!) by the market, to be likely to be explicitly subject to the rules in the future (insurers and insurance holding companies)

This segmentation, and the extreme valuation differences between the segments, has cut down markedly on the opportunities for trading.

To make this more clear, it used to be that there were 70-odd Straight Perpetuals and I was more or less indifferent as to which ones I owned (subject, of course, to issuer concentration concerns and other risk management factors). Thus, if any one of these 70 were to go down in price by – say – $0.25, I would quite often have something in inventory that I’d be willing to swap for it. The segmentation means that I am no longer indifferent; in addition to checking the valuation of a potential buy to other Straights, I also have to check its peer group. This cuts down on the potential for trading.

And, of course, the same segmentation has the same effect on trading opportunities between FixedReset issues.

There is no real hope that this situation will be corrected in the near-term. OSFI has indicated that the long-promised “Draft Definition of Capital” for insurers will not be issued “for public consultation in late 2012 or early 2013”, as they fear that it might encourage speculation in the marketplace. It is not clear why OSFI is so afraid of informed speculation, since the constant speculation in the marketplace is currently less informed than it would be with a little bit of regulatory clarity. While the framework has been updated, the modifications focus on the amount of capital required, not the required characteristics of that capital. However, OSFI has recently indicated that it would support a mechanism similar to the NVCC rule for banks, so we may see some developments as the IAIS deliberations regarding insurance capital continue.

As a result of this delay, I have extended the Deemed Maturity date for insurers and insurance holding companies by three years (to 2025-1-31), in the expectation that when OSFI finally does provide clarity, they will allow the same degree of lead-in time for these companies as they did for banks. This had a major effect on the durations of preferred shares subject to the change but, fortunately, not much on their calculated yields as most of these issues were either trading near par when the change was made or were trading at sufficient premium that a par call was expected on economic grounds. However, with the declines in the market over the past nine months, the expected capital gain on redemption of the insurance-issued DeemedRetractibles has become an important component of the calculated yield.

Due to the footdragging by OSFI, I will be extending the DeemedMaturity date for insurance issues by another few years in the near future.

Sectoral distribution of the MAPF portfolio on August 31 was as follows:

MAPF Sectoral Analysis 2017-8-31
HIMI Indices Sector Weighting YTW ModDur
Ratchet 0% N/A N/A
FixFloat 0% N/A N/A
Floater 0% N/A N/A
OpRet 0% N/A N/A
SplitShare 3.8% 4.40% 5.61
Interest Rearing 0% N/A N/A
PerpetualPremium 0% N/A N/A
PerpetualDiscount 10.0% 5.39% 14.82
Fixed-Reset 67.0% 6.58% 6.80
Deemed-Retractible 1.1% 6.80% 6.17
FloatingReset 8.3% 7.99% 6.62
Scraps (Various) 9.6% 6.18% 12.36
Cash +0.2% 0.00% 0.00
Total 100% 6.45% 8.06
Totals and changes will not add precisely due to rounding. Cash is included in totals with duration and yield both equal to zero.
DeemedRetractibles are comprised of all Straight Perpetuals (both PerpetualDiscount and PerpetualPremium) issued by BMO, BNS, CM, ELF, GWO, HSB, IAG, MFC, NA, RY, SLF and TD, which are not exchangable into common at the option of the company. These issues are analyzed as if their prospectuses included a requirement to redeem at par on or prior to 2022-1-31 (banks) or 2025-1-3 (insurers and insurance holding companies), in addition to the call schedule explicitly defined. See OSFI Does Not Grandfather Extant Tier 1 Capital, CM.PR.D, CM.PR.E, CM.PR.G: NVCC Status Confirmed and the January, February, March and June, 2011, editions of PrefLetter for the rationale behind this analysis.

Note that the estimate for the time this will become effective for insurers and insurance holding companies was extended by three years in April 2013, due to the delays in OSFI’s providing clarity on the issue.

Calculations of resettable instruments are performed assuming a constant GOC-5 rate of 1.53% and a constant 3-Month Bill rate of 0.70%

The “total” reflects the un-leveraged total portfolio (i.e., cash is included in the portfolio calculations and is deemed to have a duration and yield of 0.00.). MAPF will often have relatively large cash balances, both credit and debit, to facilitate trading. Figures presented in the table have been rounded to the indicated precision.

Credit distribution is:

MAPF Credit Analysis 2017-8-31
DBRS Rating Weighting
Pfd-1 0
Pfd-1(low) 0
Pfd-2(high) 50.9%
Pfd-2 32.8%
Pfd-2(low) 6.6%
Pfd-3(high) 1.0%
Pfd-3 4.9%
Pfd-3(low) 3.0%
Pfd-4(high) 0%
Pfd-4 0%
Pfd-4(low) 0%
Pfd-5(high) 0.7%
Pfd-5 0.0%
Cash +0.2%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.
The fund holds a position in AZP.PR.C, which is rated P-5(high) by S&P and is unrated by DBRS; it is included in the Pfd-5(high) total.
A position held in INE.PR.A is not rated by DBRS, but has been included as “Pfd-3” in the above table on the basis of its S&P rating of P-3.

Liquidity Distribution is:

MAPF Liquidity Analysis 2017-8-31
Average Daily Trading Weighting
<$50,000 26.2%
$50,000 – $100,000 40.7%
$100,000 – $200,000 26.8%
$200,000 – $300,000 5.2%
>$300,000 1.0%
Cash +0.2%
Totals will not add precisely due to rounding.

MAPF is, of course, Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund, a “unit trust” managed by Hymas Investment Management Inc. Further information and links to performance, audited financials and subscription information are available the fund’s web page. The fund may be purchased either directly from Hymas Investment Management or through a brokerage account at Odlum Brown Limited. A “unit trust” is like a regular mutual fund, but is sold by offering memorandum rather than prospectus. This is cheaper, but means subscription is restricted to “accredited investors” (as defined by the Ontario Securities Commission). Fund past performances are not a guarantee of future performance. You can lose money investing in MAPF or any other fund.

A similar portfolio composition analysis has been performed on the Claymore Preferred Share ETF (symbol CPD) (and other funds) as of July 31, 2017, and published in the August, 2017, PrefLetter. It is fair to say:

  • MAPF credit quality is much better
  • MAPF liquidity is lower
  • MAPF Yield is higher
  • Weightings
    • MAPF is a less exposed to Straight Perpetuals (including DeemedRetractibles)
    • Neither portfolio is exposed to Operating Retractibles (there aren’t too many of those any more!)
    • MAPF is more exposed to SplitShares
    • MAPF is a little less exposed to FixFloat / Floater / Ratchet
    • MAPF is a little higher weighted in FixedResets, but has a greater emphasis on lower-spread issues
Market Action

September 1, 2017

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.2604 % 2,367.6
FixedFloater 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.2604 % 4,344.5
Floater 3.66 % 3.69 % 114,249 18.01 3 0.2604 % 2,503.8
OpRet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.0472 % 3,087.2
SplitShare 4.72 % 3.85 % 51,607 1.31 5 -0.0472 % 3,686.7
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 -0.0472 % 2,876.5
Perpetual-Premium 5.41 % 4.73 % 55,823 5.86 16 0.0172 % 2,781.6
Perpetual-Discount 5.30 % 5.34 % 73,062 14.87 19 -0.2337 % 2,921.5
FixedReset 4.36 % 4.41 % 146,813 6.33 98 0.1749 % 2,395.8
Deemed-Retractible 5.10 % 5.47 % 98,714 6.08 31 -0.1492 % 2,871.3
FloatingReset 2.57 % 2.91 % 40,974 4.17 8 0.1382 % 2,623.3
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
PWF.PR.Z Perpetual-Discount -1.01 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 24.18
Evaluated at bid price : 24.55
Bid-YTW : 5.35 %
W.PR.H Perpetual-Discount -1.01 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 24.25
Evaluated at bid price : 24.55
Bid-YTW : 5.68 %
BAM.PF.G FixedReset 1.01 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 23.05
Evaluated at bid price : 24.10
Bid-YTW : 4.56 %
BAM.PR.T FixedReset 1.03 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 20.65
Evaluated at bid price : 20.65
Bid-YTW : 4.61 %
RY.PR.J FixedReset 1.07 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 22.80
Evaluated at bid price : 23.57
Bid-YTW : 4.40 %
PWF.PR.P FixedReset 1.55 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 17.00
Evaluated at bid price : 17.00
Bid-YTW : 4.43 %
BAM.PR.X FixedReset 1.79 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 17.64
Evaluated at bid price : 17.64
Bid-YTW : 4.57 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
RY.PR.B Deemed-Retractible 212,307 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2017-10-01
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.08
Bid-YTW : 2.06 %
TRP.PR.J FixedReset 152,348 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-05-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.70
Bid-YTW : 3.57 %
NA.PR.S FixedReset 137,706 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 21.81
Evaluated at bid price : 22.32
Bid-YTW : 4.42 %
RY.PR.L FixedReset 109,100 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2019-02-24
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.20
Bid-YTW : 3.78 %
RY.PR.Q FixedReset 104,512 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-05-24
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.70
Bid-YTW : 3.59 %
RY.PR.R FixedReset 102,321 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-08-24
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.80
Bid-YTW : 3.60 %
There were 24 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
HSE.PR.G FixedReset Quote: 23.90 – 24.34
Spot Rate : 0.4400
Average : 0.3096

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 22.95
Evaluated at bid price : 23.90
Bid-YTW : 5.24 %

MFC.PR.M FixedReset Quote: 21.92 – 22.29
Spot Rate : 0.3700
Average : 0.2436

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 21.92
Bid-YTW : 5.97 %

BMO.PR.Y FixedReset Quote: 23.53 – 23.96
Spot Rate : 0.4300
Average : 0.3146

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 22.74
Evaluated at bid price : 23.53
Bid-YTW : 4.41 %

HSE.PR.E FixedReset Quote: 23.78 – 24.10
Spot Rate : 0.3200
Average : 0.2166

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-09-01
Maturity Price : 22.93
Evaluated at bid price : 23.78
Bid-YTW : 5.30 %

IAG.PR.G FixedReset Quote: 22.65 – 23.04
Spot Rate : 0.3900
Average : 0.2890

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.65
Bid-YTW : 5.51 %

MFC.PR.H FixedReset Quote: 24.36 – 24.67
Spot Rate : 0.3100
Average : 0.2103

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.36
Bid-YTW : 5.07 %

Issue Comments

AX.PR.A To Reset At 5.662%

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust has announced:

that it does not intend to exercise its right to redeem all or any part of the currently outstanding Preferred Units, Series A (“Series A Units”) (AX.PR.A) on September 30, 2017.

As a result, and subject to certain conditions set forth in the certificate of preferred units terms relating to the Series A Units dated effective August 2, 2012 (the “Certificate of Series A Unit Terms”), the holders of Series A Units will have the right to elect to reclassify all or any of their Series A Units into Preferred Units, Series B (“Series B Units”) of Artis on the basis of one Series B Unit for each Series A Unit held on September 30, 2017.

With respect to any Series A Units that remain outstanding after September 30, 2017, holders thereof will be entitled to receive distributions, if, as and when declared by the Board of Trustees of Artis, in an annual amount per Series A Unit determined by multiplying the Annual Fixed Distribution Rate for such subsequent fixed rate period by $25.00, and shall be payable quarterly on the last business day of each of March, June, September and December in each year during such subsequent fixed rate period. For the initial subsequent fixed rate period commencing on October 1, 2017, the Annual Fixed Distribution Rate is 5.662% per annum.

With respect to any Series B Units that may be issued on September 30, 2017, holders thereof will be entitled to receive distributions, if, as and when declared by the Board of Trustees of Artis, in an amount period per Series B Unit determined by multiplying the Floating Quarterly Distribution Rate (calculated on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed in such quarterly floating rate period, divided by 365) by $25.00, which shall be payable quarterly on the last business day of such quarterly floating rate period. For the initial quarterly floating rate period commencing October 1, 2017, the Floating Quarterly Distribution Rate is 4.802% per annum.

As provided in the Certificate of Series A Unit Terms: (i) if Artis determines that there would remain outstanding on September 30, 2017 less than 500,000 Series A Units, all remaining Series A Units shall be reclassified automatically into Series B Units on a one-for-one basis, effective September 30, 2017; or (ii) if Artis determines that less than 500,000 Series B Units would be issued based upon the elections of holders, then holders of Series A Units shall not be entitled to reclassify their Series A Units into Series B Units.

As at the date hereof, there are an aggregate of 3,450,000 Series A Units issued and outstanding.
The Series A Units are issued in “book entry only” form and must be purchased or transferred through a participant in the CDS depository service (each, a “CDS Participant”). All rights of holders of Series A Units must be exercised through CDS or the CDS Participant through which the Series A Units are held. The deadline for the registered holder of Series A Units to provide notice of exercise of the right to reclassify Series A Units into Series B Units is 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on September 15, 2017. Any notices received after this deadline will not be valid. As such, holders of Series A Units who wish to exercise their right to reclassify their Series A Units into Series B Units should contact their broker or intermediary for more information and it is recommended that this be done well in advance of the deadline in order to provide the broker or other intermediary with time to complete the necessary steps.

If Artis does not receive an election notice from a holder of Series A Units during the time fixed therefor, then the Series A Units shall be deemed not to have been reclassified (other than pursuant to an automatic reclassification). Holders of Series A Units and Series B Units will have the opportunity to reclassify their units again on September 30, 2022, and every five years thereafter as long as such units remain outstanding.

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) has conditionally approved the listing of the Series B Units effective upon reclassification. Listing of the Series B Units is subject to Artis fulfilling all the listing requirements of the TSX.

AX.PR.A is a FixedReset, 5.25%+406, that was announced 2012-7-24 but only added to HIMIPref™ when the issue was rated by DBRS in 2013. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ but relegated to the Scraps subindex on credit concerns.

The most logical way to analyze the question of whether or not to convert is through the theory of Preferred Pairs, for which a calculator is available. Briefly, a Strong Pair is defined as a pair of securities that can be interconverted in the future (e.g., AX.PR.A and the FloatingReset that will exist if enough holders convert). Since they will be interconvertible on this future date, it may be assumed that they will be priced identically on this date (if they aren’t then holders will simply convert en masse to the higher-priced issue). And since they will be priced identically on a given date in the future, any current difference in price must be offset by expectations of an equal and opposite value of dividends to be received in the interim. And since the dividend rate on one element of the pair is both fixed and known, the implied average rate of the other, floating rate, instrument can be determined. Finally, we say, we may compare these average rates and take a view regarding the actual future course of that rate relative to the implied rate, which will provide us with guidance on which element of the pair is likely to outperform the other until the next interconversion date, at which time the process will be repeated.

We can show the break-even rates for each FixedReset / FloatingReset Strong Pair graphically by plotting the implied average 3-month bill rate against the next Exchange Date (which is the date to which the average will be calculated).

pairs_fr_170901
Click for Big

The market appears to have a distaste at the moment for floating rate product; most of the implied rates until the next interconversion are lower than the current 3-month bill rate and the averages for investment-grade and junk issues are both below current market rates, at +0.44% and +0.44%, respectively! Whatever might be the result of the next few Bank of Canada overnight rate decisions, I suggest that it is unlikely that the average rate over the next five years will be lower than current – but if you disagree, of course, you may interpret the data any way you like.

Since credit quality of each element of the pair is equal to the other element, it should not make any difference whether the pair examined is investment-grade or junk, although we might expect greater variation of implied rates between junk issues on grounds of lower liquidity, and this is just what we see.

If we plug in the current bid price of the AX.PR.A FixedReset, we may construct the following table showing consistent prices for its soon-may-be-issued FloatingReset counterpart given a variety of Implied Breakeven yields consistent with issues currently trading:

Estimate of FloatingReset (received in exchange for AX.PR.A) Trading Price In Current Conditions
  Assumed FloatingReset
Price if Implied Bill
is equal to
FixedReset Bid Price Spread 1.00% 0.50% 0.00%
AX.PR.A 22.66 406bp 22.08 21.60 21.12

Based on current market conditions, I suggest that the FloatingResets that will result from conversion are likely to be cheap and trading below the price of their FixedReset counterparts. Therefore, it seems likely that I will recommend that holders of AX.PR.A continue to hold the issue and not to convert, but I will wait until it’s closer to the September 15 notification deadline before making a final pronouncement. I will note that, given the apparent cheapness of the FloatingResets, it may be a good trade to swap the FixedReset for the FloatingReset in the market once both elements of each pair are trading and you can – presumably, according to this analysis – do it with a reasonably good take-out in price, rather than doing it through the company on a 1:1 basis. But that, of course, will depend on the prices at that time and your forecast for the path of policy rates over the next five years. There are no guarantees – my recommendation is based on the assumption that current market conditions with respect to the pairs will continue until the FloatingResets commence trading and that the relative pricing of the two new pairs will reflect these conditions.

Issue Comments

VSN.PR.A To Reset At 4.4640%

Veresen Inc. has announced:

that it does not intend to exercise its right to redeem all or any part of the currently outstanding Cumulative Redeemable Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series A (“Series A Shares”) (TSX: VSN.PR.A) on September 30, 2017 (the “Conversion Date”).

As a result, and subject to certain conditions set out in the prospectus supplement dated February 7, 2012 relating to the issuance of the Series A Shares, the holders of the Series A Shares will have the right to elect to convert all or any of their Series A Shares into Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, Series B of Veresen (“Series B Shares”) on the basis of one Series B Share for each Series A Share on the Conversion Date.

With respect to any Series A Shares that remain outstanding after September 30, 2017, holders thereof will be entitled to receive quarterly fixed cumulative preferential cash dividends, if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of Veresen. The annual dividend rate for the Series A Shares for the five-year period from and including September 30, 2017 to but excluding September 30, 2022, will be 4.4640%, being equal to the five-year Government of Canada bond yield of 1.5440% determined as of today, plus 2.92%, in accordance with the terms of the Series A Shares.

With respect to any Series B Shares that may be issued on September 30, 2017, holders thereof will be entitled to receive quarterly floating rate cumulative preferential cash dividends, if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of Veresen. The annual dividend rate for the 3-month floating rate period from and including September 30, 2017 but excluding December 31, 2017 will be 3.6620%, being equal to the annual rate of interest for the most recent auction of 90-day Government of Canada Treasury Bills of 0.742% plus 2.92%, in accordance with the terms of the Series A Shares (the “Floating Quarterly Dividend Rate”). The Floating Quarterly Dividend Rate will be reset every quarter.

As provided in the share conditions of the Series A Shares: (i) if Veresen determines that there would remain outstanding immediately following the conversion, less than 1,000,000 Series A Shares, all remaining Series A Shares shall be converted automatically into Series B Shares on a one-for-one basis effective September 30, 2017; or (ii) if Veresen determines that there would remain outstanding immediately following the conversion, less than 1,000,000 Series B Shares, holders of Series A Shares shall not be entitled to convert their shares into Series B Shares on the Conversion Date. There are currently 8,000,000 Series A Shares outstanding.

The Series A Shares are issued in “book entry only” form and must be purchased or transferred through a participant in the CDS depository service (“CDS Participant”). All rights of holders of Series A Shares must be exercised through CDS or the CDS Participant through which the Series A Shares are held. The deadline for the registered shareholders to provide notice of exercise of the right to convert Series A Shares into Series B Shares is 3:00 p.m. (MST) / 5:00 p.m. (EST) on September 15, 2017. Any notices received after this deadline will not be valid. As such, holders of Series A Shares who wish to exercise their right to convert their shares should contact their broker or other intermediary for more information and it is recommended that this be done well in advance of the deadline in order to provide the broker or other intermediary with the time to complete the necessary steps.

If Veresen does not receive an election notice from the holder of Series A Shares during the time fixed therefor, then the Series A Shares shall be deemed not to have been converted (except in the case of an automatic conversion). Holders of Series A Shares and Series B Shares will have an opportunity to convert their shares again on September 30, 2022, and every five years thereafter as long as the shares remain outstanding.

Pursuant to the previously announced plan of arrangement between Veresen and Pembina Pipeline Corporation (“Pembina”), all of the outstanding preferred shares of Veresen, including any Series A Shares or Series B Shares then outstanding, will be exchanged for Pembina preferred shares with the same terms and conditions as the outstanding Veresen preferred shares. Closing of the plan of arrangement transaction remains subject to approval under the Competition Act (Canada). Pembina and Veresen currently expect the transaction will close late in the third quarter to early in the fourth quarter of 2017. A detailed description of the transaction is set forth in the Management Information Circular of Veresen dated June 5, 2017, which has been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

VSN.PR.A is a FixedReset, 4.40%+292, that commenced trading 2012-2-14 after being announced 2012-2-3. The issue is tracked by HIMIPref™ but has been assigned to the Scraps index on credit concerns. As noted in the press release, there is an exchange offer from PPL outstanding that will take effect on closing of the Plan of Arrangement between the companies.

The most logical way to analyze the question of whether or not to convert is through the theory of Preferred Pairs, for which a calculator is available. Briefly, a Strong Pair is defined as a pair of securities that can be interconverted in the future (e.g., VSN.PR.A and the FloatingReset that will exist if enough holders convert). Since they will be interconvertible on this future date, it may be assumed that they will be priced identically on this date (if they aren’t then holders will simply convert en masse to the higher-priced issue). And since they will be priced identically on a given date in the future, any current difference in price must be offset by expectations of an equal and opposite value of dividends to be received in the interim. And since the dividend rate on one element of the pair is both fixed and known, the implied average rate of the other, floating rate, instrument can be determined. Finally, we say, we may compare these average rates and take a view regarding the actual future course of that rate relative to the implied rate, which will provide us with guidance on which element of the pair is likely to outperform the other until the next interconversion date, at which time the process will be repeated.

We can show the break-even rates for each FixedReset / FloatingReset Strong Pair graphically by plotting the implied average 3-month bill rate against the next Exchange Date (which is the date to which the average will be calculated).

pairs_fr_170901
Click for Big

The market appears to have a distaste at the moment for floating rate product; most of the implied rates until the next interconversion are lower than the current 3-month bill rate and the averages for investment-grade and junk issues are both below current market rates, at +0.44% and +0.44%, respectively! Whatever might be the result of the next few Bank of Canada overnight rate decisions, I suggest that it is unlikely that the average rate over the next five years will be lower than current – but if you disagree, of course, you may interpret the data any way you like.

Since credit quality of each element of the pair is equal to the other element, it should not make any difference whether the pair examined is investment-grade or junk, although we might expect greater variation of implied rates between junk issues on grounds of lower liquidity, and this is just what we see.

If we plug in the current bid price of the VSN.PR.A FixedReset, we may construct the following table showing consistent prices for its soon-may-be-issued FloatingReset counterpart given a variety of Implied Breakeven yields consistent with issues currently trading:

Estimate of FloatingReset (received in exchange for VSN.PR.A) Trading Price In Current Conditions
  Assumed FloatingReset
Price if Implied Bill
is equal to
FixedReset Bid Price Spread 1.00% 0.50% 0.00%
VSN.PR.A 21.75 292bp 21.20 20.70 20.19

Based on current market conditions, I suggest that the FloatingResets that will result from conversion are likely to be cheap and trading below the price of their FixedReset counterparts. Therefore, it seems likely that I will recommend that holders of VSN.PR.A continue to hold the issue and not to convert, but I will wait until it’s closer to the September 15 notification deadline before making a final pronouncement. I will note that, given the apparent cheapness of the FloatingResets, it may be a good trade to swap the FixedReset for the FloatingReset in the market once both elements of each pair are trading and you can – presumably, according to this analysis – do it with a reasonably good take-out in price, rather than doing it through the company on a 1:1 basis. But that, of course, will depend on the prices at that time and your forecast for the path of policy rates over the next five years. There are no guarantees – my recommendation is based on the assumption that current market conditions with respect to the pairs will continue until the FloatingResets commence trading and that the relative pricing of the two new pairs will reflect these conditions.

Issue Comments

MFC.PR.I : Convert or Hold?

It will be recalled that MFC.PR.I will reset to 4.351% (paid on par) effective September 19.

Holders of MFC.PR.I have the option to convert to FloatingResets, which will pay 3-month bills plus 286bp on the par value of $25.00, reset quarterly. The deadline for notifying the company of the intent to convert is 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on September 5, 2017; but note that this is a company deadline and that brokers will generally set their deadlines a day or two in advance, so there’s not much time to lose if you’re planning to convert! However, if you miss the brokerage deadline they’ll probably do it on a ‘best efforts’ basis if you grovel in a sufficiently entertaining fashion. The ticker for the new FloatingReset, if it is issued, will be MFC.PR.T.

MFC.PR.I is a FixedReset, 4.40%+286, that commenced trading 2012-5-24 after being announced 2012-5-16. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ and is included in the FixedReset subindex. The extension of this issue was announced 2017-7-27.

As this issue (and the possibly forthcoming MFC.PR.T) is not NVCC compliant, it is analyzed as having a Deemed Retraction.

The most logical way to analyze the question of whether or not to convert is through the theory of Preferred Pairs, for which a calculator is available. Briefly, a Strong Pair is defined as a pair of securities that can be interconverted in the future (e.g., MFC.PR.I and the FloatingReset MFC.PR.T that will exist if enough holders convert). Since they will be interconvertible on this future date, it may be assumed that they will be priced identically on this date (if they aren’t then holders will simply convert en masse to the higher-priced issue). And since they will be priced identically on a given date in the future, any current difference in price must be offset by expectations of an equal and opposite value of dividends to be received in the interim. And since the dividend rate on one element of the pair is both fixed and known, the implied average rate of the other, floating rate, instrument can be determined. Finally, we say, we may compare these average rates and take a view regarding the actual future course of that rate relative to the implied rate, which will provide us with guidance on which element of the pair is likely to outperform the other until the next interconversion date, at which time the process will be repeated.

We can show the break-even rates for each FixedReset / FloatingReset Strong Pair graphically by plotting the implied average 3-month bill rate against the next Exchange Date (which is the date to which the average will be calculated).

pairs_fr_170830
Click for Big

The market appears to have a distaste at the moment for floating rate product; most of the implied rates until the next interconversion are lower than the current 3-month bill rate and the averages for investment-grade and junk issues are both well below current market rates, at +0.29% and +0.28%, respectively! Whatever might be the result of the next few Bank of Canada overnight rate decisions, I suggest that it is unlikely that the average rate over the next five years will be lower than current – but if you disagree, of course, you may interpret the data any way you like.

Since credit quality of each element of the pair is equal to the other element, it should not make any difference whether the pair examined is investment-grade or junk, although we might expect greater variation of implied rates between junk issues on grounds of lower liquidity, and this is just what we see.

If we plug in the current bid price of the MFC.PR.I FixedReset, we may construct the following table showing consistent prices for its soon-to-be-issued FloatingReset counterpart given a variety of Implied Breakeven yields consistent with issues currently trading:

Estimate of FloatingReset MFC.PR.T (received in exchange for MFC.PR.I) Trading Price In Current Conditions
  Assumed FloatingReset
Price if Implied Bill
is equal to
FixedReset Bid Price Spread +1.00% +0.50% 0.00%
MFC.PR.I 23.64 286bp 23.14 22.62 22.11

Based on current market conditions, I suggest that the FloatingResets that will result from conversion are likely to be cheap and trading below the price of their FixedReset counterparts. Therefore, I recommend that holders of MFC.PR.I continue to hold the issue and not to convert. I will note that, given the apparent cheapness of the FloatingResets, it may be a good trade to swap the FixedReset for the FloatingReset in the market once both elements of each pair are trading and you can – presumably, according to this analysis – do it with a reasonably good take-out in price, rather than doing it through the company on a 1:1 basis. But that, of course, will depend on the prices at that time and your forecast for the path of policy rates over the next five years. There are no guarantees – my recommendation is based on the assumption that current market conditions with respect to the pairs will continue until the FloatingResets commence trading and that the relative pricing of the new pair will reflect these conditions.

Market Action

August 31, 2017

Natalie Obiko Pearson of Bloomberg comes up with an explanation of housing costs that’s as good as any I’ve seen:

In the spring of 2012, Dustan Woodhouse, then a 40-year-old Vancouver mortgage broker, broke the cardinal rule of saving for retirement: he liquidated his retirement fund, took the tax hit and plowed the rest into the local real estate market.

“People told me I was crazy,” says Woodhouse, 45, whose plan is to buy and have paid off 10 such investments by his late sixties. “But that’s our pension — that’s what that property is.”

Woodhouse’s decision to flout traditional investment strategies has so far proved to be a winner. With the roughly C$60,000 ($47,000) he had in hand, he took out a mortgage and bought a wood-shingled townhouse near a coastal inlet east of Vancouver for C$240,000. Five years later, he figures his house has risen about 60 percent in value if sales of nearby properties are anything to go by. In the meantime, he’s accrued a nest egg of roughly C$24,000 from rental income, even after accounting for expenses, mortgage payments and taxes.

The price of a typical detached home in Vancouver rose 69 percent in the five years through July, compared with a return of 51 percent for the S&P/TSX Composite Index, the country’s benchmark equity index, and 7.6 percent for Canadian government bonds. Some 41 percent of baby boomers said home equity made up more than 60 percent of their household wealth, according to a survey by Manuflife Bank published in May. For 21 percent, it made up more than 80 percent.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 1.1976 % 2,361.5
FixedFloater 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 1.1976 % 4,333.2
Floater 3.67 % 3.70 % 115,797 17.99 3 1.1976 % 2,497.3
OpRet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.1574 % 3,088.6
SplitShare 4.72 % 3.89 % 53,690 1.32 5 0.1574 % 3,688.5
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.1574 % 2,877.9
Perpetual-Premium 5.40 % 4.84 % 55,641 6.06 17 -0.0650 % 2,781.1
Perpetual-Discount 5.31 % 5.34 % 60,821 14.87 20 0.0256 % 2,928.3
FixedReset 4.37 % 4.42 % 144,887 6.33 98 0.1589 % 2,391.6
Deemed-Retractible 5.10 % 5.41 % 101,235 6.08 31 0.0807 % 2,875.6
FloatingReset 2.63 % 3.13 % 41,034 4.17 9 0.1534 % 2,619.7
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
BAM.PF.D Perpetual-Discount -1.24 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-31
Maturity Price : 22.02
Evaluated at bid price : 22.39
Bid-YTW : 5.55 %
BAM.PF.B FixedReset 1.12 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-31
Maturity Price : 22.30
Evaluated at bid price : 22.67
Bid-YTW : 4.64 %
CM.PR.O FixedReset 1.19 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-31
Maturity Price : 21.64
Evaluated at bid price : 22.07
Bid-YTW : 4.38 %
PWF.PR.Z Perpetual-Discount 1.22 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-31
Maturity Price : 24.41
Evaluated at bid price : 24.80
Bid-YTW : 5.30 %
MFC.PR.C Deemed-Retractible 1.26 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 21.72
Bid-YTW : 6.78 %
MFC.PR.M FixedReset 1.34 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 21.86
Bid-YTW : 6.01 %
BAM.PR.B Floater 1.36 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-31
Maturity Price : 14.11
Evaluated at bid price : 14.11
Bid-YTW : 3.70 %
SLF.PR.H FixedReset 1.40 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 20.99
Bid-YTW : 5.89 %
BAM.PR.C Floater 1.44 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-31
Maturity Price : 14.09
Evaluated at bid price : 14.09
Bid-YTW : 3.70 %
SLF.PR.J FloatingReset 1.51 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 16.85
Bid-YTW : 7.99 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
IFC.PR.E Deemed-Retractible 181,000 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.78
Bid-YTW : 5.62 %
CM.PR.R FixedReset 145,965 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2022-07-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.14
Bid-YTW : 4.55 %
RY.PR.B Deemed-Retractible 110,442 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2017-09-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.08
Bid-YTW : 1.90 %
RY.PR.R FixedReset 81,190 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-08-24
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.80
Bid-YTW : 3.60 %
TD.PF.C FixedReset 52,400 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-31
Maturity Price : 21.42
Evaluated at bid price : 21.76
Bid-YTW : 4.36 %
TRP.PR.J FixedReset 42,875 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-05-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.61
Bid-YTW : 3.67 %
There were 14 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
GWO.PR.S Deemed-Retractible Quote: 24.70 – 25.25
Spot Rate : 0.5500
Average : 0.3933

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.70
Bid-YTW : 5.41 %

BAM.PF.D Perpetual-Discount Quote: 22.39 – 22.78
Spot Rate : 0.3900
Average : 0.2682

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-31
Maturity Price : 22.02
Evaluated at bid price : 22.39
Bid-YTW : 5.55 %

BMO.PR.B FixedReset Quote: 26.13 – 26.40
Spot Rate : 0.2700
Average : 0.1559

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2022-02-25
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.13
Bid-YTW : 3.79 %

BNS.PR.D FloatingReset Quote: 22.24 – 22.49
Spot Rate : 0.2500
Average : 0.1378

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.24
Bid-YTW : 4.53 %

TRP.PR.A FixedReset Quote: 19.26 – 19.56
Spot Rate : 0.3000
Average : 0.1962

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-31
Maturity Price : 19.26
Evaluated at bid price : 19.26
Bid-YTW : 4.45 %

RY.PR.O Perpetual-Premium Quote: 25.20 – 25.47
Spot Rate : 0.2700
Average : 0.1729

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2024-11-24
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.20
Bid-YTW : 4.81 %

Issue Comments

IGM.PR.B Downgraded to P-2(High) by S&P

Standard & Poor’s has announced:

  • •On Aug. 31, 2017, IGM announced the closing of a minority stake acquisition in China Asset Management Co. Ltd.
  • •We revised the financial risk profile assessment to “modest” from “minimal” because of the increase in debt to fund the transaction combined with lower coverage metrics.
  • •We are lowering our long-term issuer credit rating and unsecured debt ratings on IGM to ‘A’ from ‘A+’ and lowering our preferred stock ratings to ‘BBB+/P-2(high)’ from ‘A-/P-1(low)’. We are also removing these ratings from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on Dec. 29, 2016.
  • •The stable outlook on IGM reflects our expectation that the company will operate with leverage levels slightly below 1.5x and interest coverage metrics between 9x and 10x during the next 18 to 24 months. It also incorporates our view that investment performance will remain solid and assets under management will grow organically at a modest pace.


The downgrade of IGM reflects the completion of the China Asset Management Co. Ltd. (CAMC) transaction, which was initially announced in December 2016. Through Mackenzie Investments, a subsidiary of IGM, the company acquired a 13.9% stake in CAMC for a purchase price of approximately C$633 million. The acquisition was funded primarily through the issuance of C$600 million in unsecured notes (split in a C$400 million 10-year tranche and a C$200 million 30-year tranche) in January 2017.

The stable outlook reflects S&P Global Ratings’ expectation that IGM will operate with leverage metrics slightly below 1.5x and interest coverage metrics between 9x and 10x during the next 18 to 24 months. The stable outlook also incorporates our expectation that IGM will continue to exhibit positive organic inflows, solid investment performance and sizeable on-balance-sheet investments.

S&P’s Credit Watch Negative was reported on PrefBlog.

IGM.PR.B is a 5.90% Straight Perpetual that commenced trading 2009-12-8 after being announced 2009-11-30. The issue was poorly received and underwriters had to blow out their inventory shortly after opening day.

The issue is tracked by HIMIPref™ and is included in the PerpetualPremium subindex.

Issue Comments

ALA.PR.U To Reset At 5.29%

AltaGas Ltd. has announced:

that it does not intend to exercise its right to redeem its currently outstanding Cumulative Redeemable Five-Year Rate Reset Preferred Shares, Series C (the “Series C Shares”) (TSX:ALA.PR.U) on September 30, 2017. As a result, subject to certain conditions, the holders of the Series C Shares have the right to convert all or part of their Series C Shares on a one-for-one basis into Cumulative Redeemable Floating Rate Preferred Shares, Series D of AltaGas (the “Series D Shares”) on September 30, 2017. Holders who do not exercise their right to convert their Series C Shares into Series D Shares will retain their Series C Shares.

The foregoing conversion right is subject to the conditions that: (i) if AltaGas determines that there would be less than 1,000,000 Series C Shares outstanding after September 30, 2017, then all remaining Series C Shares will automatically be converted into Series D Shares on a one-for-one basis on September 30, 2017; and (ii) alternatively, if AltaGas determines that there would be less than 1,000,000 Series D Shares outstanding after September 30, 2017, no Series C Shares will be converted into Series D Shares. There are currently 8,000,000 Series C Shares outstanding.

With respect to any Series C Shares that remain outstanding after September 30, 2017, holders shall be entitled to receive, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of AltaGas, fixed cumulative preferential cash dividends, payable quarterly. The new annual dividend rate applicable to the Series C Shares for the five-year period commencing on September 30, 2017 to, but excluding, September 30, 2022 will be 5.29 percent, being equal to the five-year United States Government bond yield of 1.71 percent determined as of today plus 3.58 percent.

With respect to any Series D Shares that may be issued on September 30, 2017, holders shall be entitled to receive, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of AltaGas, quarterly floating rate cumulative preferential cash dividends. The dividend rate applicable to the Series D Shares for the three-month floating rate period commencing on September 30, 2017 to, but excluding, December 31, 2017 will be 4.62 percent, based on the annual rate on three-month United States Government treasury bills for the most recent treasury bills auction of 1.04 percent plus 3.58 percent (the “Floating Quarterly Dividend Rate”). The Floating Quarterly Dividend Rate will be reset every quarter.

Beneficial holders of Series C Shares who wish to exercise their right of conversion during the conversion period, which runs from August 31, 2017 until 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on September 15, 2017, should communicate as soon as possible with their broker or other intermediary for more information. It is recommended that this be done well in advance of the deadline in order to provide the broker or other intermediary with time to complete the necessary steps. Any notices received after this deadline will not be valid.

Subject to the terms and conditions of the Series C Shares and Series D Shares and AltaGas’ right to redeem such shares, holders of the Series C Shares and the Series D Shares will have the opportunity to convert their shares again on September 30, 2022, and every five years thereafter as long as the Series C and Series D Shares remain outstanding.

ALA.PR.U was issued FixedReset, US-Pay, 4.40%+358, that commenced trading 2012-6-6 after being announced 2012-5-29.

As this is a USD-denominated issue it is not tracked by HIMIPref™ and there will be no recommendation regarding converting or holding.

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

Issue Comments

TA.PR.H to Reset at 5.194%

TransAlta Corporation has announced:

that it does not intend to exercise its right to redeem all or any part of the currently outstanding Cumulative Redeemable Rate Reset First Preferred Shares, Series E (“Series E Shares”) (TSX: TA.PR.H) on September 30, 2017 (the “Conversion Date”).

As a result, and subject to certain conditions set out in the prospectus supplement dated August 3, 2012 relating to the issuance of the Series E Shares, the holders of the Series E Shares will have the right to elect to convert all or any of their Series E Shares into Cumulative Redeemable Floating Rate First Preferred Shares, Series F of the Company (“Series F Shares”) on the basis of one Series F Share for each Series E Share on the Conversion Date.

With respect to any Series E Shares that remain outstanding after September 30, 2017, holders thereof will be entitled to receive quarterly fixed cumulative preferential cash dividends, if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of TransAlta. The annual dividend rate for the Series E Shares for the five-year period from and including September 30, 2017 to but excluding September 30, 2022, will be 5.194%, being equal to the five-year Government of Canada bond yield of 1.544% determined as of today plus 3.65%, in accordance with the terms of the Series E Shares.

With respect to any Series F Shares that may be issued on September 30, 2017, holders thereof will be entitled to receive quarterly floating rate cumulative preferential cash dividends, if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of TransAlta. The annual dividend rate for the 3-month floating rate period from and including September 30, 2017 to but excluding December 31, 2017 will be 4.392%, being equal to the annual rate for the most recent auction of 90-day Government of Canada Treasury Bills of 0.742% plus 3.65%, in accordance with the terms of the Series F Shares (the “Floating Quarterly Dividend Rate”). The Floating Quarterly Dividend Rate will be reset every quarter.

As provided in the share conditions of the Series E Shares: (i) if TransAlta determines that there would remain outstanding immediately following the conversion, less than 1,000,000 Series E Shares, all remaining Series E Shares shall be converted automatically into Series F Shares on a one-for one basis effective September 30, 2017; or (ii) if TransAlta determines that there would remain outstanding immediately after the conversion, less than 1,000,000 Series F Shares, holders of Series E Shares shall not be entitled to convert their shares into Series F Shares on the Conversion Date. There are currently 9,000,000 Series E Shares outstanding.

The Series E Shares are issued in “book entry only” form and must be purchased or transferred through a participant in the CDS depository service (“CDS Participant”). All rights of holders of Series E Shares must be exercised through CDS or the CDS Participant through which the Series E Shares are held. The deadline for the registered shareholder to provide notice of exercise of the right to convert Series E Shares into Series F Shares is 3:00 p.m. (MST) / 5:00 p.m. (EST) on September 15, 2017. Any notices received after this deadline will not be valid. As such, holders of Series E Shares who wish to exercise their right to convert their shares should contact their broker or other intermediary for more information and it is recommended that this be done well in advance of the deadline in order to provide the broker or other intermediary with time to complete the necessary steps.

If TransAlta does not receive an election notice from a holder of Series E Shares during the time fixed therefor, then the Series E Shares shall be deemed not to have been converted (except in the case of an automatic conversion). Holders of the Series E Shares and the Series F Shares will have the opportunity to convert their shares again on September 30, 2022, and every five years thereafter as long as the shares remain outstanding.

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) has conditionally approved the listing of the Series F Shares effective upon conversion. Listing of the Series F Shares is subject to TransAlta fulfilling all the listing requirements of the TSX.

TA.PR.H is a FixedReset, 5.00%+365, that commenced trading 2012-8-10 after being announced 2012-8-2. The issue is tracked by HIMIPref™ but has been assigned to the Scraps index on credit concerns.

The most logical way to analyze the question of whether or not to convert is through the theory of Preferred Pairs, for which a calculator is available. Briefly, a Strong Pair is defined as a pair of securities that can be interconverted in the future (e.g., TA.PR.H and the FloatingReset that will exist if enough holders convert). Since they will be interconvertible on this future date, it may be assumed that they will be priced identically on this date (if they aren’t then holders will simply convert en masse to the higher-priced issue). And since they will be priced identically on a given date in the future, any current difference in price must be offset by expectations of an equal and opposite value of dividends to be received in the interim. And since the dividend rate on one element of the pair is both fixed and known, the implied average rate of the other, floating rate, instrument can be determined. Finally, we say, we may compare these average rates and take a view regarding the actual future course of that rate relative to the implied rate, which will provide us with guidance on which element of the pair is likely to outperform the other until the next interconversion date, at which time the process will be repeated.

We can show the break-even rates for each FixedReset / FloatingReset Strong Pair graphically by plotting the implied average 3-month bill rate against the next Exchange Date (which is the date to which the average will be calculated).

pairs_fr_170831
Click for Big

The market appears to have a distaste at the moment for floating rate product; most of the implied rates until the next interconversion are lower than the current 3-month bill rate and the averages for investment-grade and junk issues are both below current market rates, at +0.32% and +0.42%, respectively! Whatever might be the result of the next few Bank of Canada overnight rate decisions, I suggest that it is unlikely that the average rate over the next five years will be lower than current – but if you disagree, of course, you may interpret the data any way you like.

Since credit quality of each element of the pair is equal to the other element, it should not make any difference whether the pair examined is investment-grade or junk, although we might expect greater variation of implied rates between junk issues on grounds of lower liquidity, and this is just what we see.

If we plug in the current bid price of the TA.PR.H FixedReset, we may construct the following table showing consistent prices for its soon-may-be-issued FloatingReset counterpart given a variety of Implied Breakeven yields consistent with issues currently trading:

Estimate of FloatingReset (received in exchange for TA.PR.H) Trading Price In Current Conditions
  Assumed FloatingReset
Price if Implied Bill
is equal to
FixedReset Bid Price Spread 1.00% 0.50% 0.00%
TA.PR.H 21.07 365bp 20.54 20.06 19.58

Based on current market conditions, I suggest that the FloatingResets that will result from conversion are likely to be cheap and trading below the price of their FixedReset counterparts. Therefore, it seems likely that I will recommend that holders of TA.PR.H continue to hold the issue and not to convert, but I will wait until it’s closer to the September 15 notification deadline before making a final pronouncement. I will note that, given the apparent cheapness of the FloatingResets, it may be a good trade to swap the FixedReset for the FloatingReset in the market once both elements of each pair are trading and you can – presumably, according to this analysis – do it with a reasonably good take-out in price, rather than doing it through the company on a 1:1 basis. But that, of course, will depend on the prices at that time and your forecast for the path of policy rates over the next five years. There are no guarantees – my recommendation is based on the assumption that current market conditions with respect to the pairs will continue until the FloatingResets commence trading and that the relative pricing of the two new pairs will reflect these conditions

Market Action

August 30, 2017

PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.35%, equivalent to 6.96% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long corporates now yield a little over 3.85%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (in this context, the “Seniority Spread”) is now about 310bp, a slight (and perhaps spurious) widening from the 305bp reported August 23.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.0240 % 2,333.5
FixedFloater 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.0240 % 4,281.9
Floater 3.71 % 3.75 % 119,603 17.89 3 0.0240 % 2,467.7
OpRet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.1340 % 3,083.8
SplitShare 4.72 % 4.10 % 49,704 1.32 5 0.1340 % 3,682.7
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.1340 % 2,873.4
Perpetual-Premium 5.40 % 4.81 % 54,898 5.87 17 0.0000 % 2,782.9
Perpetual-Discount 5.31 % 5.35 % 61,042 14.87 20 0.0341 % 2,927.6
FixedReset 4.37 % 4.43 % 147,177 6.32 98 0.1921 % 2,387.8
Deemed-Retractible 5.10 % 5.46 % 102,638 6.08 31 0.0388 % 2,873.3
FloatingReset 2.63 % 3.09 % 39,474 4.18 9 0.0205 % 2,615.6
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
PWF.PR.Z Perpetual-Discount -1.01 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-30
Maturity Price : 24.13
Evaluated at bid price : 24.50
Bid-YTW : 5.36 %
IFC.PR.A FixedReset 1.07 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 19.90
Bid-YTW : 7.04 %
CU.PR.C FixedReset 1.13 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-30
Maturity Price : 21.55
Evaluated at bid price : 21.55
Bid-YTW : 4.58 %
IAG.PR.A Deemed-Retractible 1.16 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.66
Bid-YTW : 6.16 %
VNR.PR.A FixedReset 1.44 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-30
Maturity Price : 21.50
Evaluated at bid price : 21.81
Bid-YTW : 5.03 %
TRP.PR.D FixedReset 1.60 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-30
Maturity Price : 21.72
Evaluated at bid price : 22.18
Bid-YTW : 4.43 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
RY.PR.B Deemed-Retractible 200,200 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2017-09-29
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.07
Bid-YTW : 2.24 %
GWO.PR.I Deemed-Retractible 102,400 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 21.56
Bid-YTW : 6.87 %
TD.PF.A FixedReset 86,700 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-30
Maturity Price : 21.41
Evaluated at bid price : 21.74
Bid-YTW : 4.37 %
NA.PR.A FixedReset 41,900 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-08-15
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.22
Bid-YTW : 4.14 %
CM.PR.R FixedReset 35,833 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2022-07-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.12
Bid-YTW : 4.57 %
CU.PR.I FixedReset 31,450 YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2020-12-01
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.75
Bid-YTW : 3.53 %
There were 8 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
TRP.PR.G FixedReset Quote: 23.67 – 24.17
Spot Rate : 0.5000
Average : 0.3956

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-30
Maturity Price : 22.78
Evaluated at bid price : 23.67
Bid-YTW : 4.58 %

MFC.PR.M FixedReset Quote: 21.57 – 21.85
Spot Rate : 0.2800
Average : 0.1764

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 21.57
Bid-YTW : 6.22 %

BAM.PF.B FixedReset Quote: 22.42 – 22.70
Spot Rate : 0.2800
Average : 0.1906

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-30
Maturity Price : 21.88
Evaluated at bid price : 22.42
Bid-YTW : 4.68 %

MFC.PR.L FixedReset Quote: 20.63 – 20.94
Spot Rate : 0.3100
Average : 0.2356

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2025-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 20.63
Bid-YTW : 6.78 %

CU.PR.H Perpetual-Premium Quote: 24.90 – 25.25
Spot Rate : 0.3500
Average : 0.2776

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-30
Maturity Price : 24.48
Evaluated at bid price : 24.90
Bid-YTW : 5.28 %

TD.PF.E FixedReset Quote: 24.00 – 24.23
Spot Rate : 0.2300
Average : 0.1608

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2047-08-30
Maturity Price : 22.95
Evaluated at bid price : 24.00
Bid-YTW : 4.43 %