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Topic: How To Invest

TELUS $57.67 – Toronto symbol T.A

TELUS $57.67 (Toronto symbol T.A; Shares outstanding: 324.5 million; Market cap: $18.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.2%; www.telus.com) plans to merge its common shares and its non-voting class A into a single class of shares.

Telus created the non-voting shares in 1998, when U.S.-based Verizon Communications (symbol VZ on New York) held a major stake in the company. The move let Telus comply with regulations preventing foreign control of Canadian telecom firms. Verizon sold its non-voting shares in 2004. Non-Canadian investors now hold less than 20% of Telus’s stock.

Telus now has about 174.9 million common shares and 149.9 million non-voting shares outstanding. Under the proposal, each non-voting share will become one common share. Investors holding two-thirds of each share class, voting separately, must approve the change.

We’ve long recommended Telus’s non-voting shares over its common stock. Even though they receive identical dividends and have similar liquidity, the non-voting shares were typically cheaper than the common shares. We recommend that common and non-voting shareholders vote in favour of the proposal.

Telus also raised its quarterly dividend by 5.2%, to $0.61 a share from $0.58. The new rate yields 4.2% for both classes.

Telus is still a buy. The cheaper, non-voting class A shares are still the better choice.

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