DBRS Finalizes BCE Inc.’s Preferred Share Issuance Rating at Pfd-3 (high), Stable

DBRS has today finalized the provisional rating of Pfd-3 (high) with Stable trends to BCE Inc.’s (BCE or the Company) Series AM Preferred Shares, Series AO Preferred Shares, and Series AQ Preferred Shares, following BCE’s preferred exchange offer as part of Bell Aliant Inc.’s privatization. This action follows the provisional ratings assigned by DBRS on August 15, 2014.

On July 23, 2014, BCE announced it would privatize its Bell Aliant Inc. (Bell Aliant or the Company) affiliate by acquiring the interest of public minority shareholders for consideration of approximately $3.95 billion. The transaction closed on October 31, 2014.

As part of BCE’s tender offer to acquire the minority interest in Bell Aliant Inc., BCE exchanged all of the issued and outstanding Series A Preferred Shares, Series C Preferred Shares and Series E Preferred Shares at Bell Aliant Preferred Equity Inc. (Bell Aliant) on the basis of (a) one BCE Series AM Preferred Share for each Series A Preferred Share; (b) one BCE Series AO Preferred Share for each Series C Preferred Share; and (c) one BCE Series AQ Preferred Share for each Series E Preferred Share. Bell Aliant’s preferred shares were delisted from the TSX at the close of trading on November 3, 2014.

The newly issued BCE Inc. Preferred Shares have the same financial terms (including, without limitation, the dividend rate) as Bell Aliant’s existing Preferred Shares. These newly issued BCE Preferred Shares rank equally with other BCE First Preferred Shares that may be outstanding in the event of an insolvency or winding up of BCE. If BCE becomes insolvent or is wound up, BCE’s assets must be used to pay debt, including intercompany debt, before payments may be made on BCE Preferred Shares, BCE Converted Preferred Shares and other preferred shares.

Note:
All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

This Rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.

The applicable methodologies are Rating Companies in the Communications Industry, Rating Companies in the Television Broadcasting Industry and Rating Companies in the Radio Broadcasting Industry, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.