How does a preferred share "Annual Concurrent Retraction Privilege" work?

Question

I just received a Corporate Action Notice from my stock broker, saying that the company is offering an Annual Concurrent Retraction Privilege. It gives me three options:

1. Cash (consent to resale of units)
2. Cash (withhold consent to resale of units)
3. Do nothing

In the first two cases, it says the holder is required to submit an equal number of shares.

To be honest, I have no idea what any of this means.

• What is the purpose/benefit of this privilege?
• What are the consequences of these options?
• Why am I required to provide a matching number of shares, when it sounds like a sale?

Thanks.

Answer 1

A retraction privilege is a right extended to the shareholder that allows such shareholder to demand repayment of the principal.

If one exercises the right to retract, the shares are exchanged for principal plus a sweetener and/or less a penalty.

The requirement to provided matched shares means that the shares purchased plus those matched by the employer only have retraction privileges. Unmatched shares do not.

To be certain, it's always best to read all contracts, but in essence, this is a way to "cash out" of the preferred shares.

The consent to resale is a power granted to the holder over the corporation to resell the retracted shares. If it's granted, the corporation can sell to another party; if not, the corporation will have to retire the shares and issue new shares to maintain the previous number of shares outstanding. It is likely that withholding consent has a penalty, and/or granting consent has a sweetener.