Updating Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., TransCanada Corp. and BCE Inc.

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MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $30.95 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 79.3 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.2%; www.mts.ca) has completed the sale of its Allstream division to U.S.-based Zayo Group (New York symbol ZAYO). The company received $420.0 million, net of transaction costs. It will probably put the proceeds toward its long-term debt, which was $677.1 million as of September 30, 2015. That’s equal to 29% of its $2.4-billion market cap. Manitoba Telecom is still a hold. TRANSCANADA CORP. $48.05 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 709.0 million; Market cap: $34.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.transcanada.com) has launched two legal challenges to the U.S. government’s recent decision to block its proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would have pumped crude oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The company spent $4.3 billion on Keystone XL and now expects to write off between $2.5 billion and $2.9 billion of this total. TransCanada plans…