I Spoke to the Investor Relations DeptI commented that I was disappointed that CWB didn't attempt a rights issue, so as to give shareholders an opportunity to participate in the preference share issue. The IR guy couldn't understand the reasons for my dissatisfaction.
I said that given that CWB was the worst performing Canadian bank stock during the last year, and it offered the lowest dividend and now they were capping the upside on the stock at $14 for the foreseeable future, that existing shareholders deserved better consideration, than what we got.
The IR guy tried to tell me that I was wrong that the shares were the worst performing. He wanted to use a 5 year bench mark. I said let's compare the performance of the share price, during the last 52 weeks, since the metric that matters most to investors is the share price. He got offended, and wouldn't answer the question. Then he blamed fickle shareholders (like me) for selling down the shares. I took issue with this, since I said "How lousy of a shareholder can I be, when I am prepared to buy the preference shares?" I also have my insurance with their subsidiary, not because they're the only game in town.
On the whole a very unsatisfactory experience (I've spoken to dozens of IR depts. this was the worst.) Maybe the IR guy is right, that I should sell my stock, if I don't like their decisions.