Q: has Cenovus filed anything regarding buying back their outstanding pref shares.
Given they are trading at a massive discount vs par. why would they not be buying them back at this point as their main goal is reducing debt?
Thank you
Given they are trading at a massive discount vs par. why would they not be buying them back at this point as their main goal is reducing debt?
Thank you
5i Research Answer:
Nothing has been filed; companies view preferreds as more or less 'permanent' capital, because if they do not call the shares then they can be outstanding in perpetuity. Also, if companies have floating rate or reset preferreds, then dividends just simply decline with lower rates so no refinancing needs to be done when rates fall. So, if trying to improve balance sheets, most companies will pay down debt first, as it has a fixed repayment schedule. We note CVE now has $8.7B in (net) debt and $7.4B in annual cash flow. It is in decent financial shape already.