PrefBlog

Only very skimpy information is available to date – the following is from TD Waterhouse:

The coupon rate (to be determined) will be fixed until March 31, 2015. Thereafter, on and after March 31, 2015, and reset each anniversary thereafter, the Dividend Rate will be XXX% above the 5-year Government of Canada benchmark bond rate.

The Preferred Shares will be convertible into Common Shares of the Company at the option of the holder at any time or, if called for redemption, on the business day immediately preceding the date fixed for redemption, at a conversion price of (to be determined) per Common Share, being at a rate of (to be determined) Common Shares per $100 Par Value of Preferred Shares The conversion right shall be subject to the standard anti-dilution provisions. In the event that the holder of Preferred Shares exercises their conversion right following the notice of redemption, such holders will be entitled to receive declared and unpaid dividends.

The Preferred Shares will not be redeemable prior to September 12, 2012. On and after September 12, 20012 and prior to September 30, 2009, the Preferred Shares will be redeemable at the option of the Company, in whole or from time to time in part, on at least 30 days’ notice at a redemption price equal to Par plus accrued and unpaid interest, provided that the volume weighted average trading price of the Common Shares on The Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) for at least 20 trading days in any consecutive 30 day period ending five trading days prior to the date on which notice of redemption is given exceeds 135% of the Conversion Price. On and after September 30, 2014, the Preferred Shares will be redeemable at the option of the Company at any time, in whole or from time to time in part, at a redemption price equal to Par plus all declared and unpaid dividends.

This issue is unrated.

This issue will not be tracked by HIMIPref™:

• Too small – it will be quite illiquid
• Convertible – it will be more equity-like than compatible with the HIMIPref™ analysis
• Not Rated

Updated, 2009-8-24: From the prospectus, dated 2009-8-20:

The Preferred Shares will be entitled to fixed cumulative preferential cash dividends, if, as and when declared by our board of directors at a rate of $9.00 per share per annum, to accrue from the date of original issue, payable in equal instalments of $4.50 per share on March 31 and September 30 of each year until (and including) March 31, 2015. Assuming an issue date of September 3, 2009, the first dividend will be payable on March 31, 2010 in the amount of $5.17808 per Preferred Share. From March 31, 2015 until March 31, 2016 and recalculated each anniversary thereafter, the rate of the annual dividend on the Preferred Shares (which will continue to be paid in equal semi-annual instalments on March 31 and September 30 of each year, the first such dividend to be payable on September 30, 2015) will be 6.28% above the five year Government of Canada benchmark bond rate as quoted on the Bloomberg page “GCAN5YR ” or comparable sources at 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on the tenth business day prior to March 31, 2015 and each subsequent anniversary date.

Update, 2009-9-3: Succesfully closed, trades as WES.PR.C.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 6:15 pm and is filed under New Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.