TRANSCANADA PIPE....JUST A REMINDER (LESSON IN HISTORY)I remember this vividly, as I lived through this one.......'Twas 1999 and yes, TRP cut the dividend!! It got very ugly, but for those with the fortitude it eventually paid off...I was one of them. Numerous souls lost bundles of their hard earned savings on TRP. So, when I see big companies making massive acquisitions/bids on large U.S. companies, my first question is: where will the money come from?? New share issues of course and who knows, a dividend reduction, although I do hope that TRAP, er TRP learned from their fauxpas of 1999....................here, read it for yourself....It probably doesn't mention it, but the stock bottomed at $9.95 (CDN $$)....correct me if I am wrong. Best.............SHUMBA CBC News Posted: Dec 08, 1999 7:32 PM ET| Last Updated: Dec 08, 1999 7:32 PM ET >>>>>>>>> Shares of TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. took a beating on the Toronto stock market Wednesday after the company announced it was cutting its generous dividend by close to a third. The announcement came as TransCanada put all of its non-core businesses up for sale. The stock dropped $2 in early trading and by the end of the day was down $2.45 to $13.00 on a trading volume of more than 12 million shares. Investors were reacting to the surprise cut in TransCanada's $1.12 dividend -- one of the highest yielding dividends paid by any company trading on the TSE. TransCanada lowered the dividend to 80 cents a share, despite repeated assurances that it wouldn't make a cut. Canada's largest energy services firm said it's trying to generate capital in order "to strengthen its financial flexibility and capture North American energy growth opportunities." The company also announced Wednesday it's selling off non-core operations in order to focus on natural gas transmission, power generation and marketing in Canada and the northern United States. The company says it will use the cash made from asset sales "to repay debt and enhance the strength or our balance sheet." TransCanada expects to realize $3 billion from the sell-off. On the auction block are: TransCanada's international sales; midstream businesses including the gathering and processing and extraction operations; express pipeline system and Cancarb, the company's carbon thermal black manufacturing business. The moves will allow the company to concentrate on what president and CEO Doug Baldwin sees as its key endeavours. "TransCanada's competitive advantage is in our low cost gas transmission assets across the northern tier of North America," Baldwin said in a release. "Going forward, we will focus on how we can provide gas and power services to North America's growing businesses." ARCHIVED STORY: TransCanada's CEO George Watson resigns Baldwin, who took over the presidency from George Watson in July, says besides improving the company's financial position, the moves are aimed at improving returns to shareholders. TransCanada plans to continue reducing costs into next year and "will significantly reduce the size of its employee and management base." Since the giant takeover of NOVA Corp. last year, TransCanada cut 600 permanent jobs from its ranks of 5000 employees. The company says approximately one-third of the current employees are associated with the assets being sold. TransCanada has already sold $1 billion worth of assets in the past year, including Angus Chemicals and its U.S. midstream operations. TransCanada stock drops after dividend cut Many of the businesses put up for sale Wednesday are losing money and the company may have difficulty finding buyers for the $3 billion in assets