Power offers top assets at a discount

Article Excerpt

Power Corp. trades at a holding company discount, which puts more assets to work for you, and adds a lot of appeal. The company also gives you exposure to a number of high-quality companies. POWER CORP. $27.32 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 409.1 million; Market cap: $11.2 billion; SI Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 66.3%-owned Power Financial. Power Corp.’s financial assets include 68.6% of Great-West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers, and 56.3% of IGM Financial, one of the country’s leading mutual-fund companies. Power Financial also owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds a 54.1% stake in Switzerland-listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European companies: Imerys (minerals), Total SA (oil), Pernod Ricard (wine and spirits), Suez (energy, water and waste services) and Lafarge SA (cement and building materials). Excluding one-time items, Power Corp.’s earnings rose 15.9%, to $219 million, or $0.46 a..