Canadian telco BCE has informed the market that it has tendered 506,975 of its fixed-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred shares, Series AF (Series AF Preferred shares) for conversion on February 1 into floating-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred shares, Series AE (Series AE Preferred shares).
The company will also tender 3,283,795 Series AE Preferred shares for conversion to Series AF Preferred shares, also on the same date.
It will be done on a one-for-one basis, and once the conversions have taken place BCE will have a total of 9,484,687 Series AF Preferred shares and 6,515,313 Series AE Preferred shares.
Series AF Preferred shares will be paid quarterly for a five year period beginning February 1 and a fixed cash dividend based on an annual fixed dividend rate 3.865% when declared by the company’s board of directors.
Series AE Preferred shares will continue to pay a monthly floating adjustable cash rate dividend for a five year period, also beginning on February, as and when declared by the BCE board. The monthly floating adjustable dividend for any particular month will be calculated based on the prime rate and using the designated percentage for that month representing the sum of an adjustment factor and the designated percentage of the preceding month.
Both will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the respective codes BVCE.PR.F and BCE.PR.E.
BCE shares was down CAD$0.22 (0.35%) and trades at CAD$62.32. It had a market cap of CAD$56.32 billion.