PrefBlog

Manulife Financial Corporation has announced (although not yet on their website):

the applicable dividend rates for its Non-cumulative Rate Reset Class 1 Shares Series 15 (the “Series 15 Preferred Shares”) (TSX: MFC.PR.L) and Non-cumulative Floating Rate Class 1 Shares Series 16 (the “Series 16 Preferred Shares”).

With respect to any Series 15 Preferred Shares that remain outstanding after June 19, 2024, holders thereof will be entitled to receive fixed rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of Manulife and subject to the provisions of the Insurance Companies Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the five-year period commencing on June 20, 2024, and ending on June 19, 2029, will be 5.77500% per annum or $0.360938 per share per quarter, being equal to the sum of the five-year Government of Canada bond yield as at May 21, 2024, plus 2.16%, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Series 15 Preferred Shares.

With respect to any Series 16 Preferred Shares that may be issued in connection with the conversion of the Series 15 Preferred Shares into the Series 16 Preferred Shares, holders thereof will be entitled to receive floating rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, calculated on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed in each quarterly floating rate period divided by 365, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of Manulife and subject to the provisions of the Insurance Companies Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the three-month period commencing on June 20, 2024, and ending on September 19, 2024, will be 1.77245% (7.03200% on an annualized basis) or $0.443113 per share, being equal to the sum of the three-month Government of Canada Treasury bill yield as at May 21, 2024, plus 2.16%, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Series 16 Preferred Shares.

Beneficial owners of Series 15 Preferred Shares who wish to exercise their right of conversion should instruct their broker or other nominee to exercise such right before 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on June 4, 2024. Conversion inquiries should be directed to Manulife’s Registrar and Transfer Agent, TSX Trust Company, at 1‑800‑783‑9495.

The Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) has conditionally approved the listing of the Series 16 Preferred Shares effective upon conversion. Listing of the Series 16 Preferred Shares is subject to Manulife fulfilling all the listing requirements of the TSX and, upon approval, the Series 16 Preferred Shares will be listed on the TSX under the trading symbol “MFC.PR.S”.

MFC.PR.L is a FixedReset, 3.90%+216, that commenced trading 2014-2-25 after being announced 2014-2-18. The extension was announced 2019-5-7. MFC.PR.L reset At 3.78600% effective June 20, 2019. I made no recommendation regarding conversion and there was no conversion.

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

Partners Value Split Corp. has announced:

y its intention to redeem 1,975,000 of its outstanding Class AA Preferred Shares, Series 8 (“Preferred Shares, Series 8”) (TSX: PVS.PR.F) for cash on May 31, 2024 (the “Redemption Date”) in accordance with the terms of the Preferred Shares, Series 8. The Preferred Shares, Series 8 being called for redemption represent approximately 32.92% of all outstanding Preferred Shares, Series 8 of the Company.

The Preferred Shares, Series 8 will be partially redeemed on a pro rata basis, so that each holder of Preferred Shares, Series 8 of record at the close on May 22, 2024 (the “Record Date”) will have approximately 32.92% of their Preferred Shares, Series 8 redeemed.

The redemption price per Preferred Share, Series 8 being redeemed will be equal to C$25.00 per share (the “Redemption Price”). Separately from the Redemption Price, the quarterly cash dividend of C$0.30 per share to May 31, 2024, will be paid in the usual manner on June 7, 2024, to holders of Preferred Shares, Series 8 of record on May 22, 2024, including those whose Preferred Shares, Series 8 were redeemed on May 31, 2024. Holders of Preferred Shares, Series 8 are entitled on a partial redemption to a redemption price equal to C$25.00 plus accrued and unpaid dividends. For greater certainty, such accrued and unpaid dividends will only be paid once per Preferred Share, Series 8, on June 7, 2024.

On the completion of the partial redemption herein, the remaining 4,024,300 unredeemed Preferred Shares, Series 8 will remain issued and outstanding in accordance with their terms.

Notice will be delivered to holders of the Preferred Shares, Series 8 in accordance with the terms of the Preferred Shares, Series 8.

From and after the Redemption Date, the Preferred Shares, Series 8 called for redemption will cease to be entitled to dividends or any other participation in any distribution of the assets of the Company and the holders thereof shall not be entitled to exercise any of their other rights as shareholders in respect thereof except to receive the Redemption Price (less any tax required to be deducted and withheld by the Company). After the partial redemption of the Preferred Shares, Series 8, the Company will consolidate the existing capital shares held by Partners Value Investments Inc. so that there are an equal number of preferred shares and capital shares outstanding.

PVS.PR.F was issued as a SplitShare, 4.80%, maturing 2024-9-30, which commenced trading 2017-9-18 after being announced 2017-09-07. It is tracked by HIMIPref™ and has been assigned to the SplitShare subindex.

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

Laurentian Bank of Canada has announced:

the applicable dividend rates for its Non-Cumulative Class A Preferred Shares, Series 13 (the “Preferred Shares Series 13”) and Non-Cumulative Class A Preferred Shares, Series 14 (the “Preferred Shares Series 14”).

With respect to any Preferred Shares Series 13 that remain outstanding after June 17, 2024, being the first business day following the Saturday, June 15, 2024 conversion date identified in the prospectus supplement dated March 27, 2014 relating to the issuance of the Preferred Shares Series 13, holders thereof will be entitled to receive fixed rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of the Bank and subject to the provisions of the Bank Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the five-year period commencing on June 15, 2024, and ending on June 14, 2029, will be 6.196% per annum, being equal to the sum of the five-year Government of Canada bond yield as at May 16, 2024, plus 2.55%, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Preferred Shares Series 13.

With respect to any Preferred Shares Series 14 that may be issued on June 17, 2024, holders thereof will be entitled to receive floating rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, calculated on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed in each quarterly floating rate period divided by 365, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of the Bank and subject to the provisions of the Bank Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the three-month period commencing on June 15, 2024, and ending on September 14, 2024, will be 7.473% on an annualized basis, being equal to the sum of the threemonth Government of Canada Treasury bill yield as at May 16, 2024, plus 2.55%, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Preferred Shares Series 14.

Beneficial owners of Preferred Shares Series 13 who wish to exercise their right of conversion should instruct their broker or other nominee to exercise such right before 5:00 p.m. (Montreal time) on May 31, 2024. Conversion inquiries should be directed to the Bank’s Registrar and Transfer Agent, Computershare Investor Services Inc., at 1 800 564-6253.

The Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) has conditionally approved the listing of the Preferred Shares Series 14 effective upon conversion. Listing of the Preferred Shares Series 14 subject to the Bank fulfilling all the listing requirements of the TSX and, upon approval, the Preferred Shares Series 14 will be listed on the TSX under the trading symbol “LB.PR.I”.

They had previously announced (2024-4-18):

– Laurentian Bank of Canada (TSX: LB) (the “Bank”) announced today that it does not intend to exercise its right to redeem all or any of its currently outstanding Non-Cumulative Class A Preferred Shares, Series 13 (the “Preferred Shares Series 13”) (TSX: LB.PR.H) on June 15, 2024. As a result, subject to certain conditions described in the prospectus supplement dated March 27, 2014 relating to the issuance of the Preferred Shares Series 13 (the “Prospectus”), the holders of the Preferred Shares Series 13 have the right, at their option, to convert any or all of their Preferred Shares Series 13 into an equal number of the Bank’s Non-Cumulative Class A Preferred Shares, Series 14 (the “Preferred Shares Series 14”) on June 17, 2024. This date is the first business day following the conversion date of June 15, 2024, identified in the Prospectus, which falls on a Saturday. In accordance with the share conditions, a written notice of the right to convert Preferred Shares Series 13 into Preferred Shares Series 14 will be sent to the registered holders of the Preferred Shares Series 13. Holders of Preferred Shares Series 13 are not required to elect to convert all or any part of their Preferred Shares Series 13 into Preferred Shares Series 14. Holders who do not exercise their right to convert their Preferred Shares Series 13 into Preferred Shares Series 14 on such date will retain their Preferred Shares Series 13, unless automatically converted in accordance with the conditions below.

The foregoing conversion right is subject to the conditions that: (i) if, after May 31, 2024, the Bank determines that there would be less than 1,000,000 Preferred Shares Series 14 outstanding on June 17, 2024, then no Preferred Shares Series 13 will be converted into Preferred Shares Series 14, and (ii) alternatively, if after, May 31, 2024, the Bank determines that there would be less than 1,000,000 Preferred Shares Series 13 outstanding on June 17, 2024, then all remaining Preferred Shares Series 13 will automatically be converted into an equal number of Preferred Shares Series 14 on June 17, 2024. In either case, the Bank will give written notice to that effect to any registered holders of Preferred Shares Series 13 affected by the preceding minimums on or before June 7, 2024.

The dividend rate applicable to the Preferred Shares Series 13 for the five-year period from and including June 15, 2024 to, but excluding, June 15, 2029, and the dividend rate applicable to the Preferred Shares Series 14 for the three-month period from and including June 15, 2024 to, but excluding, September 15, 2024, will be determined and announced by way of a news release on May 16, 2024. The Bank will also give written notice of these dividend rates to the registered holders of Preferred Shares Series 13.

Beneficial owners of Preferred Shares Series 13 who wish to exercise their right of conversion should instruct their broker or other nominee to exercise such right before 5:00 p.m. (Montreal time) on May 31, 2024. Conversion inquiries should be directed to the Bank’s Registrar and Transfer Agent, Computershare Investor Services Inc., at 1-800-564-6253

LB.PR.H was issued as a NVCC-compliant FixedReset, 4.30%+255, that commenced trading 2014-4-3 after being announced 2014-3-25. The extension was announced 2019-5-7. LB.PR.H reset At 4.123% effective June 15, 2019. I made no recommendation regarding conversion and there was no conversion.

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

DBRS has announced that it:

confirmed the Issuer Rating and Senior Unsecured Debt rating of Brookfield Property Partners L.P. (BPP) at BBB (low). Morningstar DBRS also confirmed the ratings on Brookfield Property Finance ULC’s Senior Unsecured Notes and Brookfield Office Properties Inc.’s Senior Unsecured Notes at BBB (low), and Brookfield Office Properties Inc.’s Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, Class AAA at Pfd-3 (low). All trends are Stable. The ratings are based on the credit risk profile of the consolidated entity, including BPP and its subsidiaries (collectively, BPY or the Partnership).

KEY CREDIT RATING CONSIDERATIONS
The Stable trends consider the demonstrated ability of BPY to continue to access alternative sources of capital, including by asset monetization and through support from its parent, Brookfield Corporation (BN; rated “A,” Stable by Morningstar DBRS) by various means, including the downstreaming of capital. Recent examples of parental support include the repayment at maturity of the 4.30% Series 3 Senior Unsecured Notes and the extension of an intercompany revolving credit facility between BN and BPY. In Morningstar DBRS’ view, these examples, among others, continue to demonstrate the willingness and ability of BN to support BPY for the foreseeable future. The Stable trends also consider BPY’s modestly positive operating performance, affirming the stability of cash flow derived from its assets, particularly in its core Office segment, as well as BPY’s high leverage and variable-rate debt exposure and the resultant strain of high interest rates on BPY’s cash flows.

CREDIT RATING DRIVERS
Morningstar DBRS would consider a negative rating action if Morningstar DBRS were to change its views on the level and strength of implicit support provided by BN, or should BPY’s total debt-to-EBITDA not improve as expected such that it remains above 16.0 times (x), or if BPY’s EBITDA interest coverage were to remain below 1.0x on a sustained basis, all else equal. On the other hand, Morningstar DBRS would consider a positive rating action should Morningstar DBRS’ outlook for BPY’s total debt-to-EBITDA improve to 13.0x or better.

FINANCIAL OUTLOOK
Morningstar DBRS has revised its financial risk assessment of BPY modestly lower, based on revised expectations for BPY’s primary credit metrics. In the near to medium term, Morningstar DBRS expects that BPY will continue to demonstrate an improving trend in its total debt-to-EBITDA metric toward the 15x-range (from 16.9x for the last 12 months ended December 31, 2023 (LTM)), and that BPY’s EBITDA interest coverage metric will stabilize near current levels (0.93x for the LTM) and begin improving toward the low 1.0x-range.

CREDIT RATING RATIONALE
The ratings continue to be supported by (1) Morningstar DBRS’ view of implicit support from BN, as detailed above; (2) BPY’s market position as a pre-eminent global real estate company; (3) high-quality assets, particularly BPY’s core Office and Retail segments, with long-term leases to large, recognizable investment-grade-rated tenants; and (4) superior diversification, in particular by property, tenant, and geography. The ratings continue to be constrained by BPY’s weak financial risk assessment as reflected by both its highly leveraged balance sheet; a riskier retail leasing profile in terms of lease maturities and counterparty risk relative to BPY’s Office segment; a higher-risk opportunistic LP Investment segment composed primarily of office, retail, industrial, and multifamily assets, as well as alternatives; and Morningstar DBRS’ assessment of the unmitigated structural subordination of the Senior Unsecured Debt at the BPP level relative to a material amount of debt at its operating subsidiaries.

This follows the downgrade to P-4 by S&P in December, 2023, and the confirmation at Pfd-3(low) by DBRS in May, 2023.

Affected issues are: BPO.PR.A, BPO.PR.C, BPO.PR.E, BPO.PR.G, BPO.PR.I, BPO.PR.N, BPO.PR.P, BPO.PR.R, BPO.PR.T, BPO.PR.W, BPO.PR.X and BPO.PR.Y.

Capital Power Corporation has announced:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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