HPF.PR.A & HPF.PR.B : Conference Call!

Lawrence Asset Management continues to break new ground in the field of split-share corporation management.

Assiduous Readers will recall my post regarding the Annual Retraction Feature for these shares; the “equity” (ha-ha) shares are guaranteed a price well in excess of their value, while the “preferred” (ha-ha) shares will get a price that may be well below their NAV.

They have now announced:

it intends to hold a conference call at 10 a.m. EST on June 10, 2008, to discuss the outlook for HI PREFS (TSX:HPF.pr.a, HPF.pr.b).

Shareholders and Investment Advisors are invited to join the conference call.

The details are as follows:
Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Time: 10:00 am EST
Dial in: 416-695-7806 / 1-888-789-9572
Passcode: 3267826
For More Information Contact:
Investor Relations
Catherine Stretch
416-362-6283
info@lawvest.com

I will be the first to admit that I don’t know everything there is to know about the financial world – but I can’t remember seeing any such announcement for a split-share corporation before, let alone one for a conference call with such a vague agenda.

5 Responses to “HPF.PR.A & HPF.PR.B : Conference Call!”

  1. cowboylutrell says:

    I would surmise that the underlying objective of this conference might be to try to minimize the volume of redemption requests for these “preferred” shares. Lawrence Asset Management might want to reassure investors ahead of the annual redemption date. They may be surprised by the level of redemption requests at this point (as mentioned on page 44 of the prospectus, shareholders have until five business days prior to the last business day of June to tender their shares for redemption – though I would add that shareholders should give a buffer of at least 3 to 4 business days to their broker so that the shares could be transferred on time).

    As series 2 (HPF.PR.B) shares crashed hard in late 2007-early 2008, more than a few shareholders may be looking for the exit. Quite a few holders of series 1 (HPF.PR.A) shares may also call it quit on the annual redemption date, as I imagine that some of them were unpleasantly surprised to see that their holdings, in spite of being senior to all other High Prefs securities, dropped below par.

    So, is Lawrence Asset in a mission to extinguish a fire?

    Anyway it’s going to be interesting to see what this conference call is all about. And I wonder if there’s going to be a sharp rise in HPF.PR.B as a result of forced buying, as you pointed out earlier this week. But I’m not going to try to play this kind of silly speculation, mind you.

  2. jiHymas says:

    So, is Lawrence Asset in a mission to extinguish a fire?

    That may well be the case! And note that it MIGHT be HPF.PR.A that MIGHT spike IF there is any forced buying – it all depends on the relative number tendered for redemption.

    I do not have a view on the attractiveness of these shares as a speculation … but if I did own either issue, and I did not want to redeem and take whatever haircut might result, I’d be putting in a stink offer for the rest of the month … just to see!

  3. cowboylutrell says:

    You brought good points, thanks.

    But do you think the purpose of this meeting might be something else than merely trying to “extinguish a fire” as far as redemption requests are concerned?

    By re-reading your post, I find intriguing the last few words of the following sentence: “I can’t remember seeing any such announcement for a split-share corporation before, let alone one for a conference call with such a vague agenda.” Such a vague agenda… The more I think about this forthcoming conference call, the more I find it weird too!

    To tell you the truth, I don’t have any position in either HPF.PR.A or HPF.PR.B, but I do own some PAY.PR.A managed by the same sponsor. So you could appreciate why I have an indirect interest in the actual purpose of this conference call.

  4. […] Strange issue often discussed. […]

  5. […] Want to figure this one out? Why not try listening to the conference call previously mocked on PrefBlog? […]

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