PrefBlog

Brompton Group has announced:

Life & Banc Split Corp. (the “Fund”) is pleased to announce it is undertaking a treasury offering of preferred shares (“Preferred Shares”) (the “Offering”).

The sales period for this offering is expected to end on Thursday, April 23, 2026. The offering is expected to close on or about April 30, 2026 and is subject to certain closing conditions including approval by the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”).

The Preferred Shares will be offered at a price of $10.50 per Preferred Share to yield 6.9%.(1) The closing price on the TSX for the Preferred Shares on April 21, 2026 was $10.55. The offering is being led by RBC Capital Markets.

The investment objectives for the Preferred Shares are to provide holders with fixed cumulative preferential quarterly cash distributions, in the amount of $0.18125 per Preferred Share (7.25% per annum on the original $10.00 issue price), and to return the original issue price to holders of Preferred Shares on October 30, 2028.

Purchasers of Preferred Shares in this Offering will be eligible to receive the full June 2026 quarterly dividend of $0.18125 per Preferred Share when the dividend is declared. The Fund has declared aggregate dividends on the Preferred Shares of $10.55 per Preferred Share, representing 78 consecutive quarterly dividends since inception on October 17, 2006 to March 31, 2026.

Based on the most recently calculated net asset value per unit of the Fund on April 16, 2026, adjusted for the April 20, 2026 stock split of the Fund’s class A shares, the Preferred Shares have downside protection from a decline in the value of the Fund’s portfolio of approximately 56%. The Preferred Shares are rated Pfd-3 by Morningstar DBRS.

The Fund invests on an approximately equally weighted basis, in a portfolio (the “Portfolio”) consisting of common shares of the six largest Canadian banks and the four major publicly traded Canadian life insurance companies:

Bank of Montreal	Great-West Lifeco Inc.
National Bank of Canada	The Bank of Nova Scotia
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce	Royal Bank of Canada
iA Financial Corporation Inc.	The Toronto-Dominion Bank
Sun Life Financial Inc.	Manulife Financial Corporation

This treasury offering is presumably intended to offset the projected imbalance of Capital Units and Preferred Shares, given the recently announced Capital Unit split.

Emera Incorporated has announced:

the applicable dividend rates for its Cumulative Minimum Rate Reset First Preferred Shares, Series J (the “Series J Shares”) and Cumulative Floating Rate First Preferred Shares, Series K (the “Series K Shares”), in each case, payable if, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of the Company:

6.345% per annum on the Series J Shares ($0.3966 per Series J Share per quarter), being equal to the sum of the Government of Canada bond yield as at April 15, 2026, plus 3.28%, payable quarterly on the 15 th of February, May, August and November of each year during the five-year period commencing on May 15, 2026 and ending on (and inclusive of) May 14, 2031, and
5.598% on the Series K Shares for the three-month period commencing on May 15, 2026 and ending on (and inclusive of) August 14, 2026 ($0.3528 per Series K Share for the quarter), being equal to the sum of the three-month Government of Canada treasury bill yield rate as at April 15, 2026, plus 3.28% (calculated on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed during the quarter divided by 365), payable on the 15 th of August, 2026. The quarterly floating dividend rate will be reset every quarter.

Subject to certain conditions set out in the prospectus supplement of the Company dated March 26, 2021, to the short form base shelf prospectus of the Company dated March 12, 2021, relating to the issuance of the Series J Shares (collectively, the “Prospectus”), holders of the Series J Shares have the right, at their option, to convert all or any of their Series J Shares, on a one-for-one basis, into Series K Shares on May 15, 2026 (the “Conversion Date”). On such date, holders who do not exercise their right to convert their Series J Shares into Series K Shares will continue to hold their Series J Shares. The foregoing conversion right, after having taken into account all shares tendered for conversion by holders of Series J Shares, is subject to the following:

if the Company determines that there would be less than 1,000,000 Series K Shares outstanding on the Conversion Date, then holders of Series J Shares will not be entitled to convert their shares into Series K Shares, and
alternatively, if the Company determines that there would remain outstanding less than 1,000,000 Series J Shares on the Conversion Date, then all remaining Series J Shares will automatically be converted into Series K Shares on a one-for-one basis on the Conversion Date.

In either case, the Company will give written notice to that effect to the holders of Series J Shares at least seven days prior to the Conversion Date, subject to the terms set out in the Prospectus.

Holders of Series J Shares who wish to exercise their conversion right should communicate with their broker or other nominee to obtain instructions for exercising such right during the conversion period, which runs from April 15, 2026 until 5:00 p.m. (EDT) on April 30, 2026. Any notices received after this deadline will not be valid. Holders of Series J Shares who wish to exercise their conversion right must carefully follow the procedures and instructions received from their broker or other nominee and contact their broker or other nominee if they need assistance. Such broker or other nominee may set deadlines for the return of instructions that are well in advance of the 5:00 p.m. (EDT) deadline on April 30, 2026. As such, it is recommended that holders of Series J Shares communicate instructions to their broker or other nominee well in advance of the deadline in order to provide their broker or other nominee with adequate time to complete the necessary steps prior to the deadline.

Holders of Series J Shares who do not provide notice or communicate with their broker or other nominee by the deadline will retain their Series J Shares and receive the new annual fixed dividend rate applicable to the Series J Shares, subject to the conditions stated above. Holders of Series J Shares will have the opportunity to convert their shares again on May 15, 2031 and every five years thereafter as long as the shares remain outstanding. For more information on the terms of, and risks associated with, an investment in Series J Shares and Series K Shares, please see the Company’s Prospectus, which is available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

EMA.PR.J is a FixedReset, 4.25%+328M425, announced 2021-3-24. They recently issued some USD junior subordinated notes, but the proceeds of this issue have not been used for redemption of these preferreds. Extension of the issue was announced in April 2026. EMA.PR.J is tracked by HIMIPref™ but relegated to the Scraps – FixedReset (Premium) index on credit concerns.

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

I wouldn’t normally post about a credit rating confirmation, but for BPO I’ll make an exception!
DBRS has announced that it:

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

KEY CREDIT RATING CONSIDERATIONS
These credit rating actions consider the progress BPY continues to make in executing its strategy of reducing its balance sheet exposure to real estate, along with an anticipated commensurate reduction in financial leverage, while maintaining exposure to very high-quality core office and retail assets. BPY’s exposure to its LP Investments segment is declining as the opportunistic funds mature and execute realizations, thereby providing a source of funds. BPY’s operating environment has supported robust transaction activity, including office leasing, and new office leases are creating a near-term drag on net operating income (NOI) growth until cash rents commence.

The Stable trends consider Morningstar DBRS’ expectations for (1) improved same-property NOI growth rates in the near to medium term as new office leases yield cash rents; (2) continued support from BPY’s parent, Brookfield Corporation (BN; rated “A,” Stable by Morningstar DBRS), in the near term, by way of equity funding for upcoming debt maturities; and (3) BPY to continue executing its strategy of recycling capital into trophy office and retail assets while reducing leverage over time, resulting in an improved financial risk assessment (FRA) profile, as described below.

Morningstar DBRS applied a positive three-notch adjustment to BPY’s FRA in consideration of its enhanced financial flexibility resulting from (1) a global portfolio consisting of a high proportion of core trophy office and retail assets, (2) a relatively strong liquidity position (including consideration for explicit parental support) relative to a modest amount of Senior Unsecured Debt outstanding, and (3) a predominately nonrecourse secured debt stack with significant equity cushion providing coverage of its Senior Unsecured Debt. This FRA adjustment is newly applied following the publication of Morningstar DBRS’ updated “Global Methodology for Rating Entities in the Real Estate Industry,” whereby some adjustments are now considered as part of the Comprehensive FRA (CFRA). This adjustment also serves to balance the constraint on the Intrinsic Assessment Range when the Comprehensive Business Risk Assessment is much stronger than the CFRA, as in the case for BPY.

CREDIT RATING DRIVERS
Morningstar DBRS would consider a negative credit rating action if Morningstar DBRS were to change its views on the level and strength of implicit support provided by BN, should BPY’s total debt-to-EBITDA deteriorate to more than 16.0 times (x), or if BPY’s EBITDA interest coverage were to deteriorate from current levels (0.92x for the last 12 months (LTM) ended December 31, 2025), on a sustained basis, all else equal. On the other hand, Morningstar DBRS would consider a positive credit rating action should Morningstar DBRS’ outlook for BPY’s total debt-to-EBITDA improve to 13.0x or better, all else equal.

FINANCIAL OUTLOOK
Morningstar DBRS maintains its FRA of BPY. 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 15.8x at the LTM ended December 31, 2025), and that BPY’s EBITDA interest coverage metric will continue an improving trend above the 1.00x range. These improving metrics will be largely driven by continued capital recycling activity, associated debt reduction, support from BN in the interim, positive same-property NOI growth, and the benefit of lower interest rates.

CREDIT RATING RATIONALE
The credit 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) BPY’s high-quality assets, particularly its 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 credit ratings continue to be constrained by BPY’s weak FRA 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; and a higher-risk opportunistic LP Investments segment composed primarily of office, mixed-use, logistics, and multifamily assets, as well as alternatives.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE CONSIDERATIONS
There were no Environmental/Social/Governance factors that had a significant or relevant effect on the credit analysis.

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.T, BPO.PR.W, BPO.PR.X and BPO.PR.Y.