BIG.PR.B & BIG.PR.C Redeemed; BIG.PR.D Issued, Rated Pfd-2(low)

TD Securities announced:

Big 8 Split Inc. (the “Company”) announced today the redemption prices for its 585,093 Class B Preferred Shares (“Old Class B Preferred Shares”), 651,155 Class C Preferred Shares (“Old Class C Preferred Shares”) and 1,236,248 Class A Capital Shares (“Old Capital Shares”) currently outstanding which were called for redemption on October 24, 2013 and will be redeemed in accordance with their terms on December 13, 2013.

The Old Class B Preferred Share redemption price is $12.00 per share and the Old Class C Preferred Share redemption price is $12.00 per share, both payable in cash, together with dividends thereon in the amount of $0.2100 per Class B Preferred Share, $0.1725 per Class C Preferred Share, and $0.1275 per Class A Capital Share which have been declared but remain unpaid up to but not including December 13, 2013. The Old Capital Share redemption price is $27.0359 (“Capital Share Redemption Price”) per share, payable either in cash or, if a holder has previously elected, by delivery of a pro rata share of the common shares of Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Great-West Lifeco Inc., Manulife Financial Corporation and Sun Life Financial Inc. (the “Portfolio Shares”) and the holder’s pro rata share of the other net assets of the Company. Payments of the redemption prices for the Old Class B Preferred Shares, Old Class C Preferred Shares and Old Capital Shares will be made by the Company on December 13, 2013.

They have also announced:

Big 8 Split Inc. (the “Company”) announced today that it has completed its treasury offering of 1,719,382 Class D Capital Shares, Series 1 (the “Capital Shares”) and 1,719,382 Class D Preferred Shares, Series 1 (the “Preferred Shares”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $38,686,095 The Capital Shares and Preferred Shares will trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols BIG.D and BIG.PR.D, respectively.

The Preferred Shares were offered at a price of $10.00 per share. Holders of Preferred Shares will be entitled to receive quarterly fixed cumulative preferential distributions equal to $0.1125 per Preferred Share, representing a dividend yield on the offering price of the Preferred Shares of 4.50%. The Capital Shares were offered at a price of $12.50 per share. The Capital Shares will provide holders with a leveraged investment, the value of which is linked to changes in the market price of the Portfolio Shares.

The offering was placed through a group of investment dealers co-led by TD Securities Inc., CIBC and Scotiabank, and that includes BMO Capital Markets, National Bank Financial Inc., Canaccord Genuity Corp., GMP Securities L.P., Raymond James Ltd., Desjardins Securities Inc., Mackie Research Capital Corporation and Manulife Securities Incorporated.

DBRS has assigned a provisional rating of Pfd-2(low) to BIG.PR.D:

DBRS has today finalized the provisional rating of Pfd-2 (low) to the Class D Preferred Shares, Series 1 (the Class D Preferred Shares) issued by Big 8 Split Inc. (the Company) and discontinued the ratings of the Class B Preferred Shares, Series 1 (the Class B Preferred Shares) and the Class C Preferred Shares, Series 1 (the Class C Preferred Shares), which have been fully redeemed.

The Company has advised DBRS that the initial downside protection available to holders of the Class D Preferred Shares is expected to be approximately 52.7% after the payment of all issuance expenses (based on the minimum offering size). Dividends received on the Portfolio will be used to pay a fixed cumulative quarterly distribution to holders of the Class D Preferred Shares at a rate of 4.50% per annum while holders of the Class D Capital Shares are expected to receive all excess dividend income after the Class D Preferred Share distributions and other expenses of the Company have been paid. Based on the current dividend yield on the Portfolio, the initial Class D Preferred Share dividend coverage ratio is expected to be approximately 1.4 times.

The company’s intention to issue BIG.PR.D was reported on PrefBlog.

BIG.PR.D will not be tracked by HIMIPref™. Regrettably, it is too small an issue to provide any assurance of any liquidity at all.

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