Investment Q&A

Q: Hello!
Many months ago you had suggested the corporate version of BIP and BEP for a taxable account. Has this changed? If I sold BEPC I would have a gain in a taxable account, so is it now recommended to sell and buy BEP.UN or can I just keep with one? For BIPC I would have a loss. Can I keep this and could momentum return in this name one day or is it likely to just keep going lower and lower. The volume on the Corporate version is much lower which is not great. I had also liked the fact that institutions can buy the corporate versions, making that version more attractive but perhaps this is not the case.
Appreciate your thoughts. Thank you!

Q: I am in the process of developing a plan to consolidate my SDRSP portfolio by trimming some stocks and moving more into ETFs. I will keep a small growth portfolio within the SDRSP because I like doing it. Can you comment on the three Brookfield stocks that I have and if two had to go which would you suggest please.

Thanks as again.

Q: If you were starting from zero which of the Brookfield companies would u buy at this time..rate your favorite to least favorite please

Q: In response to a recent question from Alan regarding what you felt the BEPC over BEP.UN price premium should be you said "We think 10% to 12%"

What about the premium for BIPC over BIP.UN? Do you think it should also be 10 to 12%? BIPC is currently trading approx $11 or 32% over BIP.UN.

Q: I saw the Q's on this stock today and was intrigued by the outsized (to me) performance of BIPC vs. BIP.UN on the upside and now on the downside. Am I to understand that the growth is exactly equivalent and the price differential is strictly on the dividend taxability? I have trouble understanding the institutional (I assume mostly) thinking on this. How many years would it take of dividend savings to account for the difference? Or is that a dumb question?

Q: after saying many times that this stock at a low today of 80.75, either version is good to own, what is happening to the crash scenario of this version which is down from the high range you said it was ok to own (high of $94).??

Q: The market is way up, but BIPC is way down and I can't figure out a reason. This is not one of those stocks that goes up or down 5-6% in a day.

Q: I owned BIP.UN for several years with the spin off I was also owned some BIPC. The units have done well in the past until this year, it was flat. Meanwhile the shares have virtually doubled since their issue. I'm a primarily growth investor and sees yields as a "fringe benefits", would you consider switching the units entirely over to shares?

Certainly the deciding factor would be whether the shares' combined return (growth and yield) would outpace those of the units? Kindly share you insight on this issue. Thanks.

Q: Hi still hold all 4 of these stocks but would like to consolidate them, the BIP shares are in an RRSP of BEP in a non-registered account which is more income oriented. I am mainly concerned with which have more growth.
Thx
Nancy

Q: I have owned BIP.UN for four years and have a 76% unrealized capital gain. I also have a small amount of BIPC as a result of the recent spin off which has a 78% unrealized gain. I do not want to own both as they are essentially the same and BIPC represents only 0.3% of my portfolio. The plan is to amalgamate by selling one and using the proceeds to buy more of the other.

The question is which one to sell? This is in an unregistered account. Which of these two do you favour in an unregistered account? A sale of BIP.UN will result in a greater immediate tax liability than BIPC but the tax will have to be paid at some point anyway and it might be a good idea to decide, at this time, which is the best one for me to own going forward. I know the premium on BIPC is expected to decrease but so for it has not. In fact, over the past 8 months BIPC has increased approximately 78% while BIP.UN has decreased 6%. Over this time, BIPC has increased in market value approximately the same percentage as BIP.UN has over the past 4 years.

Q: I hold BIP.UN in a registered account. When BIPC was created I decided to keep BIP.UN but it is looking like I don't understand the corporate structure. Typically with a unit trust or a partnership the unit holder pays the tax on the income whereas the tax is paid within a corporation so dividends are "after-tax". Since the amount of the distributions are the same for the two entities I figured that BIP.UN would be better off because it didn't have to pay all the tax on its income. By my rough calculations: since the split BIP.UN is up about 20% whereas BIPC is up about 80%. What did I miss?
Thanks for your insight.
Ian

Q: I own both BIPC and BEPC and have done very well thanks to your recommendations. You have indicated lately in some of your answers that BAM.A is very attractive at these prices. Is it too much Brookfield to take the profits in my two holdings and purchase BAM.A.

Thanks for your continued guidance throughout this turbulent year.

Dave.

Q: BIPC trading today was about 7x the average daily amount . Was this in anticipation of the Federal budget?
Thanks

Q: Received these in the spin out from the units. Brookfield units are long term; held in my RRSP. ( turning into RIF in 2022 ). Considering the premium on the corps, would you sell and reinvest back into the units?
Thanks, Derek

Q: I don't know how to derive an estimate for the fair value of the difference in share prices for the above Brookfield companies. Since the date of their respective share distributions, BEPC and BIPC have outperformed their economically equivalent LP unit prices by 30% and 39% respectively. When are the price premiums too big to account for the differences in tax treatment and investor access?

Q: You recently responded to a question regarding the ACB of BEPC shares.
Could you please provide similar info. with respect to the ACB of BIPC shares and the revised ACB of BIP.UN units. Thanks Brian

Q: I recently purchased BIPC in my non registered account anticipating a dividend. I checked my transactions on this account last night and to my surprise I found that it paid interest. Can you help me clarify on what is correct.

Q: Hello,
Over the years, I've accumulated a significant amount of BIP.UN in an RRSP account, with the intention of holding it for the income generated over the long term. Since the Mar 31 split, shares of BIPC are up around 50% while BIP.UN is up around 28%.

Does it make sense to cash in this gain, sell the BIPC and use the proceeds to buy BIP.UN, thus adding some "extra" income generating units? Would also make tracking a little simpler.

Any other factors to consider?

Thanks for your time,
Roman

Q: Retired, dividend income investor. Currently own AQN, FTS and TRP. If I wanted to add a 4th name (with a focus on renewables), what would you recommend? It would be mostly in a taxable account, with possibly some in a TFSA account. Or if AQN and FTS are enough names, should I just add funds to them? If AQN-FTS are not enough names, would you consider BEPC or BIPC? I like utilizing the dividend tax credit.
Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: The Brookfield suite over the years has been a comfortable place to grow but it has a way of taking over ( combined 4 holdings has grown to 17% ) .

BIP.UN is my 3rd biggest holding , BEP.UN is my 13th biggest holding .
BIPC is my 23rd and BEPC is my 30th weight position . I own 50 stocks .
My RIF begins next year so I will have to cull somewhere and draw income.

1. You seem to prefer BIP over BEP :
2: You prefer the “C” stocks in non-registered accounts (To benefit from CDN dividend )
3. You prefer “.UN” stocks in the registered accounts to avoid US withholding taxes.

To restructure things involves declaring substantial capital gains ... Does it make sense to switch things around ?

I thank you for causing me wealth management problems like this.