Category: Issue Comments

The Toronto-Dominion Bank has announced:

that it will exercise its right to redeem all of its 8,000,000 outstanding Non-Cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset Class A First Preferred Shares, Series 9 (Non-Viability Contingent Capital) (the “Series 9 Shares”) on October 31, 2025 at the price of $25.00 per Series 9 Share for an aggregate total of approximately $200 million. The redemption has been approved by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

On August 28, 2025, TD announced that dividends of $0.202625 per Series 9 Share had been declared as payable on and after October 31, 2025 to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 10, 2025. These will be the final dividends on the Series 9 Shares, and will be paid in the usual manner on October 31, 2025 as previously announced. After October 31, 2025, the Series 9 Shares will cease to be entitled to dividends and the only remaining rights of holders of such shares will be to receive payment of the redemption amount.

Beneficial holders who are not directly the registered holder of Series 9 Shares should contact the financial institution, broker or other intermediary through which they hold these shares to confirm how they will receive their redemption proceeds. Inquiries should be directed to our Registrar and Transfer Agent, TSX Trust Company, at 1-800-387-0825 (or in Toronto 416-682-3860).

TD.PF.E is a FixedReset, 3.70%+287, that commenced trading 2015-4-24 after being announced 2015-4-15. Notice of extension was provided on 2020-9-17. TD.PF.E will reset at 3.242% effective 2020-10-31 and there was no conversion. The issue is tracked by HIMIPref™ and is assigned to the FixedReset (Premium) subindex.

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

Great-West Lifeco Inc. has announced:

the closing of its previously announced offering of 8,000,000 5.70% Non-Cumulative First Preferred Shares, Series Z (the “Series Z Shares”) for gross proceeds of $200 million, which includes the full exercise of the underwriters’ option. The offering was completed through a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets and Scotiabank. The Series Z Shares will be listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “GWO.PR.Z”.

GWO.PR.Z is a Straight Perpetual paying 5.70%, announced 2025-9-17. It has been assigned to the PerpetualPremium sub-index.

Quadravest has announced:

North American Financial 15 Split Corp. (the “Company”) announces that in keeping with current market rates for preferred shares with similar terms, the Preferred Share (“FFN.PR.A”) dividend rate for the fiscal year commencing December 1, 2025 will be set at 7.50% (previously 8.75%). Monthly payments to FFN.PR.A will be $0.06250 per share for an annual yield of 7.50% on their $10.00 redemption value.

The Company invests in an actively managed, high-quality portfolio consisting of financial services companies made up of Canadian and U.S. issuers as follows: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Great-West Lifeco, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

The minimum rate until maturity 2029-12-1 remains at 7.00%, as announced last year.

Thanks to Assiduous Readers SK and niagara for bringing this to my attention!

Update, 2025-09-25: It is of interest to note that the yield to maturity 2029-12-1 was 5.11% as of the close given the following specifications:
i) bid price of 10.83
ii) end price of 10.00
iii) three more dividends at the annual rate of 8.75%
iv) one year’s dividends at the annual rate of 7.50%
v) remaining dividends at the minimum annual rate of 7.00%

Quadravest has announced:

Financial 15 Split Corp. (the “Company”) is pleased to announce its intention to complete a share split of its Class A shares (the “Share Split”) due to the Company’s strong performance. The Class A shareholders of record at the close of business on September 26, 2025 will receive 10 additional Class A shares for every 100 Class A shares held, pursuant to the Share Split. The Share Split is subject to approval by the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”).

Class A shareholders will continue to receive regular monthly cash distributions targeted to be $0.12570 per Class A share following the Share Split, resulting in an increase in total distributions of approximately 10% through the issuance of additional shares. Since inception, Class A shareholders have received cash distributions of $27.57 per share.

The Class A shares are expected to commence trading on an ex-split basis at the opening of trading on September 26, 2025. No fractional Class A shares will be issued, and the number of Class A shares each holder shall receive will be rounded down to the nearest whole number. The Share Split is a non-taxable event.

The impact of the Share Split will be reflected in the next reported net asset value per unit as at September 30, 2025.

The Company invests in a high quality portfolio consisting of financial services companies made up of Canadian and U.S. issuers as follows: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Great-West Lifeco, Bank of America, Citigroup
Inc., Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

Given that the 2025-9-15 NAVPU was 22.03, this move will reduce the figure to about 20.00.

They further announced:

Financial 15 Split Corp. (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the minimum annual dividend rate for the FTN.PR.A Preferred Shares will increase to 6.00% from 5.50% for the new five-year term effective December 1, 2025. The payment rate that may be reset annually, subject to the five-year minimum, will be set at 7.25% (previously 8.50%) per annum effective December 1, 2025 based on the $10.00 repayment value.

The Preferred shareholders have received a total of $12.69 per share in distributions since inception. The dividend policy for the FTN Class A Shares will remain unchanged at the current
targeted rate of $0.12570 per month, or $1.5084 per annum. As previously announced on February 28, 2025, the Company has extended the termination date of the Company a further five-year period from December 1, 2025 to December 1, 2030. In relation to the term extension, the Company has an additional retraction right for those shareholders not wishing to continue holding their investment, allowing existing shareholders to tender one or both classes of shares and receive a retraction price based on the November 28, 2025 net asset value per unit. Alternatively, shareholders may also choose to sell their shares in the market at any time, realizing the then-current trading price, or shareholders may take no action and continue to hold their shares.

The Company invests in a high quality portfolio consisting of financial services companies made up of Canadian and U.S. issuers as follows: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Great-West Lifeco, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

This surprises me greatly; the terms seem far too generous. The issue closed (NBBO) at 10.80-82, down fractionally from it previous range in the mid- to high-80s. I’ll work out the projected yield properly tomorrow, but it seems to me that the result (from a starting price of 10.80) will be about 5% [one year at $0.725 wiped out by expected capital loss, leaving four years at 6% = 24%, over five years = about maybe 5%. The Capital Unitholders might well kick at how the preferred shareholders are getting too much, but they will be mollified by the 10% hike in dividends resultant from the stock split (for as long as the NAVPU stays over $15!). Assuming, of course, that they don’t realize that it’s all their money and they don’t need to be nicer than they have to be to the preferred shareholders.

So, Assiduous Reader fireseeker was right in the comments to the the September PrefLetter release post and I was wrong. Huh. Well, if I ever decide I need a crystal ball gazer on staff, I know who I’m gonna call!

Thanks to Assiduous Readers SK and niagara for bringing this to my attention!

Update, 2025-09-25: It is of interest to note that the yield to maturity 2030-12-1 was 4.72% as of the close given the following specifications:
i) bid price of 10.80
ii) end price of 10.00
iii) three more dividends at the annual rate of 8.50%
iv) one year’s dividends at the annual rate of 7.50%
v) remaining dividends at the minimum annual rate of 6.00%

Power Corporation of Canada has announced:

the closing of Power Corporation’s offering of 8,000,000 5.75% Non-Cumulative First Preferred Shares, Series H in the capital of Power Corporation (the “Series H Shares”) priced at $25.00 per share for gross proceeds of $200 million. The issue was bought by a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets and Scotiabank.

The Series H shares will be listed and posted for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “POW.PR.H”. The net proceeds of this offering will be used by Power Corporation for general corporate purposes.

POW.PR.H is a 5.75% Straight Perpetual announced 2025-9-15. It has been added to the PerpetualPremium sub-index.

The issue traded 831,540 shares today in a range of 24.95-12 before closing at 25.10-12. Vital statistics are:

Royal Bank of Canada has announced:

its intention to redeem all of its issued and outstanding Non-Viability Contingent Capital (NVCC) Non-Cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset First Preferred Shares, Series BF (Series BF shares) (TSX: RY.PR.M) on November 24, 2025, for cash at a redemption price of $25.00 per share to be paid on November 24, 2025.

There are 12,000,000 Series BF shares outstanding, representing $300 million of capital. The redemptions will be financed out of the general corporate funds of Royal Bank of Canada.

The final quarterly dividend of $0.1875 for each of the Series BF shares will be paid separately from the redemption price for each of the Series BF Shares and in the usual manner on November 24, 2025 to shareholders of record at the close of business on October 27, 2025. After such dividend payments, the holders of Series BF shares will cease to be entitled to dividends.

RY.PR.M was issued as a FixedReset, 3.60%+262, NVCC-compliant, that commenced trading 2015-3-15 after being announced 2015-3-5. The company announced extension earlier in October. The issue reset to 3.00% effective 2020-11-24. There was no conversion. The issue is tracked by HIMIPref™ and is assigned to the FixedReset-Discount subindex.

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

Brompton Group has announced (on 2025-8-12):

) Sustainable Power & Infrastructure Split Corp. (the “Fund”) is pleased to announce that the board of directors of the Fund has approved an extension of the maturity date of the class A shares (the “Class A Shares”) and preferred shares (the “Preferred Shares”) of the Fund. The current maturity date of May 29, 2026 will be extended for an additional term of approximately 5 years to May 29, 2031. The Preferred Share dividend rate for the extended term will be announced at least 60 days prior to the current May 29, 2026 maturity date and will be based on market yields for preferred shares with similar terms at that time. The term extension allows Class A shareholders to continue their investment with an attractive distribution rate of 10.2% based on the August 11, 2025 closing price, and the opportunity for capital appreciation.(1) The extension of the term of the Fund is not a taxable event and enables shareholders to defer potential capital gains tax liability that would have otherwise been realized on redemption of Class A Shares or Preferred Shares at the end of the term, until such time that shares are disposed of by shareholders.

Since inception on May 21, 2021 to July 31, 2025, the Class A Share has delivered a 14.0% per annum return, outperforming the S&P Global Infrastructure Total Return Index and the MSCI World Total Return Index by 4.3% per annum and 3.8% per annum, respectively.(2) Since inception to July 31, 2025, Class A shareholders have received cash distributions of $3.45 per share. Class A shareholders also have the option to reinvest their cash distributions in a dividend reinvestment plan which is commission free to participants.

The term extension offers Preferred shareholders the opportunity to enjoy preferential cash dividends until May 29, 2031. The Preferred share has delivered a 5.1% per annum return since inception to July 31, 2025 and has a high level of downside protection, with 51% asset coverage as of July 31, 2025.

Brompton Funds Limited (“Brompton”) believes the Fund is well-positioned to benefit from secular growth opportunities in infrastructure that are being driven by artificial intelligence (AI), government spending, electrification, and the reshoring of manufacturing.

The Fund invests in a globally diversified and actively managed portfolio (the “Portfolio”) consisting primarily of dividend-paying securities of power and infrastructure companies whose assets, products and services Brompton believes are facilitating the multi-decade transition toward decarbonization and environmental sustainability. The Portfolio may include investments in companies operating in the areas of renewable power (wind, solar, hydroelectric), green transportation (electric vehicles, energy transportation and storage, railroads, carbon capture), energy efficiency (smart grids, smart meters, building efficiency), and communications (communication networks, 5G wireless technology), among others.

The sole affected (preferred share) issue is PWI.PR.A .

Brompton Group has announced (on 2025-8-12):

(TSX: GDV, GDV.PR.A) Global Dividend Growth Split Corp. (the “Fund”) is pleased to announce that the board of directors of the Fund has approved an extension of the maturity date of the class A shares (the “Class A Shares”) and preferred shares (the “Preferred Shares”) of the Fund. The current maturity date of June 30, 2026 will be extended for an additional term of approximately 5 years to June 27, 2031. The Preferred Share dividend rate for the extended term will be announced at least 60 days prior to the current June 30, 2026 maturity date and will be based on market yields for preferred shares with similar terms at that time. The term extension allows Class A shareholders to continue their investment with an attractive distribution rate of 10.7% based on the August 11, 2025 closing price, and the opportunity for capital appreciation.(1) The extension of the term of the Fund is not a taxable event and enables shareholders to defer potential capital gains tax liability that would have otherwise been realized on redemption of Class A Shares or Preferred Shares at the end of the term, until such time that shares are disposed of by shareholders.

Over the past five years to July 31, 2025, the Class A Share has delivered a 19.6% per annum return, outperforming the MSCI World High Dividend Yield Total Return Index and the MSCI World Total Return Index by 9.9% per annum and 5.3% per annum, respectively.(2) Since inception to July 31, 2025, Class A shareholders have received cash distributions of $8.55 per share. Class A shareholders also have the option to reinvest their cash distributions in a dividend reinvestment plan which is commission free to participants.

The term extension offers Preferred shareholders the opportunity to enjoy preferential cash dividends until June 27, 2031. The Preferred share has delivered a 5.1% per annum return over the past five years to July 31, 2025 and has a high level of downside protection, with 54% asset coverage as of July 31, 2025. The Company invests in a diversified portfolio (the “Portfolio”) of equity securities of large capitalization global dividend growth companies selected by Brompton Funds Limited (the “Manager”), the manager of the Company. In order to qualify for inclusion in the Portfolio, at the time of investment and at the time of each periodic reconstitution and/or rebalancing of the Portfolio, each global dividend growth company included in the Portfolio must (i) have a market capitalization of at least $10 billion, and (ii) have a history of dividend growth or, in the Manager’s view, have high potential for future dividend growth.

The sole affected (preferred share) issue is GDV.PR.A .

Middlefield Group has announced (on 2025-8-13):

– (TSX: RS, RS.PR.A) Real Estate Split Corp. (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the board of directors intends to approve an extension of the maturity date of the Company for an additional 5-year term to December 31, 2030. The preferred share distribution rate for the extended term will be announced at least 60 days prior to the original maturity date of December 31, 2025, and will be based on market yields for preferred shares with similar terms at that time.

The term extension allows Class A shareholders to continue to gain exposure to a diversified portfolio, actively managed, high conviction portfolio comprised of securities of leading North American real estate companies.

The extension of the term of the Company is not a taxable event and enables shareholders to defer potential capital gains tax liability that would have otherwise been realized on the redemption of the Class A shares or Preferred Shares at the end of the term, until such time as such shares are disposed of by shareholders.

Since inception on November 19, 2020, the Class A shares have delivered a 5.4% per annum total return, including cash distributions of $6.94 per share. Class A shareholders also have the option to reinvest their cash distributions in a dividend reinvestment plan which is commission free to participants.

The term extension will offer Preferred shareholders the opportunity to enjoy preferential cash dividends until December 31, 2030. Since inception, the Preferred shares have delivered a 5.3% per annum total return.

The sole (preferred) issue affected is RS.PR.A .

Note that according to the 2024 Annual Information Form:

On the Maturity Date and upon any subsequent maturity date as determined by the Board of Directors, a holder of Preferred Shares may retract such Preferred Shares. The Fund will provide at least 60 days’ notice to holders of Preferred Shares of such right. The Preferred Shares must be surrendered for retraction by 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on the last business day of the month prior to the Maturity Date or subsequent maturity date, as applicable. The retraction price payable by the Fund for a Preferred Share pursuant to the non-concurrent retraction right will be equal to the lesser of (i) $10.00 plus any accrued and unpaid distributions thereon and (ii) the Net Asset Value of the Fund on that date divided by the total number of Preferred Shares then outstanding.

Note that the managers’ objective will be to minimize retractions in order to keep assets in the fund; they have no incentive to target a price following the reset announcement in excess of $10 per preferred share, other than an uncertainty buffer to ensure they don’t actually fall below it. Holders are therefore urged to calculate yield with the assumption of a $10 market price following the announcement as it is possible that retraction will be the best option at that time.

DBRS has announced that it:

downgraded the Preferred Shares (the Preferred Shares) issued by Big Pharma Split Corp. (the Company) to Pfd-3 from Pfd-3 (high). The Preferred Shares have experienced a considerable reduction in downside protection to 54.1% in August 2025 from 61.0% in August 2024 as a result of the decline in the net asset value (NAV) of the portfolio, which is heavily concentrated in large-cap pharmaceutical and biotechnology holdings. These sectors have experienced a sell-off amid political and regulatory uncertainty.

The Company invests in equally weighted common shares and securities (the Portfolio) convertible into or exchangeable for common shares (Equity Securities) of ten issuers from the Investable Universe, which is defined as Equity Securities that (1) are listed on a North American exchange, (2) pay a dividend, and (3) have sufficiently liquid options for their Equity Securities to permit the Portfolio Manager (i.e., Harvest Portfolio Group Inc.) to write options regarding such securities. The Portfolio Manager selects eight from the ten largest pharmaceutical issuers from the Investable Universe and the remaining two from the Investable Universe. The Portfolio Manager reconstitutes and rebalances the Portfolio at least semi-annually. No more than 20% of the net asset value (NAV) of the Company can be invested in securities other than from the 10 largest pharmaceutical issuers at the time of each semi-annual rebalance and reconstitution. The Portfolio securities consisted of Johnson & Johnson (10.5%), AstraZeneca PlC. (10.3%), GSK PLC (10.1%), Amgen Inc. (9.9%), AbbVie Inc. (9.8%), Eli Lilly and Company (9.6%), Merck & Co. Inc. (9.4%), Sanofi (9.3%), Pfizer Inc. (9.2%), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (9.0%) as of July 31, 2025. The Portfolio Manager hedges substantially all of the Portfolio’s U.S.-dollar exposure back to the Canadian dollar.

The board of directors extended the Company’s maturity date in October 2022 for another five years to December 31, 2027. On maturity, the holders of the Preferred Shares will be entitled to the value of the Portfolio up to the face value of the Preferred Shares and any accrued but unpaid dividends in priority to the holders of the Class A Shares.

Holders of the Preferred Shares receive a quarterly fixed cumulative dividend in the amount of $0.125 per share to yield 5.00% per year on the issue price of $10.00. Holders of the Class A Shares receive regular monthly noncumulative distributions targeted to be $0.1031 per Class A Share to yield 8.25% per year on the issue price of $15.00. The Class A Share distributions are subject to an asset coverage test, which does not permit any distributions to holders of the Class A Shares if the NAV per Unit (one unit consist of one Preferred Share and one Class A Share) falls below $15.00 or if the dividends of the Preferred Shares are in arrears. No monthly distributions in excess of $0.1031 will be made to the Class A Shares if after such payment the NAV per Unit becomes less than $23.50 except when the Company has to make such payment to fully recover refundable taxes.

As of August 26, 2025, the downside protection available to holders of the Preferred Shares declined to 54.1% from 61.0% as of August 31, 2024. Dividend coverage improved to 0.4x from 0.2x a year ago, as a result of an increase in the dividend yield received on the Portfolio, however it remains below 1.0x. The dividend coverage below 1.0x indicates that the current dividend income earned by the Company is not enough to fully cover the Company’s targeted distributions on the Preferred Shares, which increases the reliance on the Manager to generate a high yield to meet distributions without having to liquidate portfolio securities. To supplement the Portfolio income, the Company may engage in covered call option writing on all or a portion of the shares held in the Portfolio. Without giving consideration to capital appreciation potential or any source of income other than the dividends earned by the Portfolio, the Preferred Share distributions together with the current distributions on the Class A Shares will create a projected grind on the NAV of the Portfolio of approximately 7.4% per year over the next 5 years.

The Company has established an at-the-market equity program (ATM Program) to replace the prior program established in December 2022, which allows the Company to issue Class A Shares and Preferred Shares from time to time at the Company’s discretion. The current ATM Program allows maximum gross proceeds of $75 million of each of the Preferred Shares and the Class A Shares and is in effect until February 7, 2027.

Considering the decrease in the amount of downside protection together with the projected grind on the Portfolio and dividend coverage below one time, Morningstar DBRS downgraded the rating on the Preferred Shares to Pfd-3 from Pfd-3 (high).

The main constraints to the credit rating are the following:

(1) Volatility in stock prices along with changes in the dividend policies of the underlying issuers may result in significant reductions in the Preferred Shares’ dividend coverage or downside protection from time to time.

(2) Preferred Shares dividend coverage is less than one time.

(3) Stated monthly distributions on the Class A Shares may create a grind on the Portfolio. This risk is mitigated by an asset coverage test of 1.5x that ensures sufficient levels of downside protection to the holders of the Preferred Shares.

(4) Reliance on the Portfolio Manager to generate additional income, through option writing, to meet distributions and other trust expenses without having to liquidate the Portfolio’s securities.

(5) The concentration of the Portfolio in one industry

Morningstar DBRS’ credit ratings on the applicable classes address the credit risk associated with the identified financial obligations in accordance with the relevant transaction documents. Where applicable, a description of these financial obligations can be found in the transactions’ respective press releases at issuance.

The affected issue is PRM.PR.A .