OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Bell Canada, wholly owned by BCE (BCE, BCE.TO), announced the reinstatement of its C$3 billion Medium Term Notes or MTN program and the public offering of C$1 billion of MTN debentures fully and unconditionally guaranteed by BCE Inc.
Bell said it filed with the securities regulatory authorities, in all the provinces of Canada as well as with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a prospectus supplement to a short form base shelf prospectus dated August 15, 2011.
The company noted that the filing was made to reinstate Bell's MTN program and enables Bell to offer up to C$3 billion of MTN Debentures from time to time until September 2013
Bell also entered into a dealer agreement with certain dealers, under which the dealers have agreed to act as agents, principals or underwriters with respect to future offerings of MTN Debentures.
Bell stated that it is proceeding with a public offering of C$1 billion of MTN Debentures pursuant to its MTN program.
The C$1 billion 3.35% MTN Debentures, Series M-25, will mature on June 18, 2019 and will be issued at a price of Cdn $99.839 per $100 principal amount for a yield to the investor of 3.376% per annum compounded semi-annually.
According to the company, the net proceeds of the offering are intended to be used for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of outstanding commercial paper, and funding a portion of the cost of BCE's acquisition of Astral Media Inc. (Astral), which is expected to close in the second half of 2012.
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