{"id":8054,"date":"2009-09-29T00:31:12","date_gmt":"2009-09-29T04:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prefblog.com\/?p=8054"},"modified":"2009-09-29T00:31:12","modified_gmt":"2009-09-29T04:31:12","slug":"australian-convertible-floating-prefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prefblog.com\/?p=8054","title":{"rendered":"Australian Convertible Floating Prefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a comment on the post about HM Treasury’s musings on mandatorially convertible prefs<\/a>, Assiduous Reader patc<\/i> provided an introduction to what seems to be the wonderful world of Australian Hybrids.<\/p>\n

Further investigation uncovered a Morningstar \/ “Huntleys’ Your Money Weekly” analytical report titled ASX Listed Hybrids<\/a>:<\/p>\n

These securities pay a regular distribution or dividend. The calculation for most instruments is similar. Start with the 90 or 180 Day Bank Bill Swap Rate (see graph below), which is the rate at which major financial institutions commonly lend money to each other. This rate often sits a little bit above the Reserve Bank cash rate, so now for instance the 90 day rate is sitting at 3.25%, above the cash rate at 3%. To this you add a margin, which differs from security to security. For instance the ANZ offering, with ASX Code ANZPB, has a margin of 2.5%, CBAPB has a margin of 1.05%, WBCPB has a margin of 3.8%.
…<\/b>
The distribution may be franked and the numbers we quote include the franking credit where applicable.
…<\/b>
Many bank hybrids have Mandatory Converting Conditions. There are offerings of this variety from Westpac, ANZ and CBA, as well as Macquarie and Suncorp. At the end of the term, around the Mandatory Conversion Date there are tests against the share price of the underlying security. For instance ANZPB is tested against the share price of ANZ. If the volume weighted average share price (VWAP) of the institution is above some threshold just prior to the Mandatory Conversion Date then the issuer must convert the hybrid securities into a variable number of ordinary shares \u2013 the value of the shares will be the face value of the hybrid plus a small conversion discount, typically 1%\u20132.5%. Often there’s a test that the price on the 25th business day before the mandatory conversion date is at least above 55\u201360% of the issue date VWAP, and then that the VWAP for the 20 business days prior to the conversion date is above 50\u201352% of the issue date VWAP.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note that I have no idea what “franking” means!<\/p>\n

The potential for a significant market in this asset class in Canada was discussed when the market was just about at its bottom in December 2008 in the post Convertible Preferreds? In Canada?<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sadly, these preferreds approach mandatory conversion from the wrong direction: mandatory conversion occurs when the price of the common is above some level, rather than below, which – from the point of view of market stability – is undesirable. Ideally, the fixed charges inherent in debt-like instruments will be eliminated when the company’s in trouble – by conversion to common – but in this case the implication is that the fixed charges will remain in such a case, and be eliminated if the company does well (or, at least, treads water).<\/p>\n

Note that these Australian instruments bear a distinct resemblance to Canadian OperatingRetractibles, the major differences being:<\/p>\n