Enbridge embarks on massive restructuring, raises dividend + MORE Dec 4th

The reorganization is aimed at increasing shareholder value and improving funding costs for new projects and potential acquisitions

CALGARY – Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. is cutting its quarterly dividend by 42 per cent as it aims to protect its balance sheet in a gloomy oil price environment.
The Calgary-based firm (TSX:COS), whose main asset is a 37 per cent stake in the massive Syncrude oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray, Alta., said it plans to reduce its dividend to 20 cents from 35 cents when it reports its fourth-quarter earnings in late January.
With the current dividend level, Canadian Oil Sands said its net debt would grow at a pace that would quickly exceed $2 billion. It sees the dividend cut as a “prudent step to preserve balance sheet strength and provide flexibility in this lower oil price environment.”
Crude prices have fallen by more than a third to below US$70 a barrel since the summer, putting pressure on firms like Canadian Oil Sands that have little buffer against the commodity price volatility.
Canadian Oil Sands says its 2015 plans are based on an average U.S. benchmark oil price of US$75 a barrel…

Indian police arrest former Veritas Investment Research consultant Nitin Mangal for alleged extortion after claims by Indiabulls over 2012 report

JUNO BEACH, Fla. – NextEra Energy Inc. said Wednesday it plans to buy Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. to expand clean energy in Hawaii.
The companies value the deal at $2.6 billion, or $4.3 billion including the assumption of Hawaiian Electric’s debt.
NextEra owns one of the country’s largest electrical utilities — Florida Power & Light Co. — as well as a major wind and solar energy company. Hawaiian Electric supplies power to 95 per cent of Hawaii’s population through its electric utilities.
The companies said that Hawaiian Electric shareholders will receive a fractional share in NextEra Energy stock, plus a one-time cash dividend and shares in a related spinoff company as part of the deal. They estimate the value of these shares and payments at $33.50 per share of Hawaiian Electric stock.
That’s a premium of nearly 19 per cent to the closing price of Hawaiian Electric’s stock. In after-hours trading, shares of the company rose 15.7 per cent to $32…

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Canada’s love affair with home renovations has been well documented by this magazine and others. And there’s little evidence the HGTV-influenced rush to redo kitchens and bathrooms will slow any time soon. Canadians spent $13.9 billion on renovations and improvements in the third quarter, up 8.9 per cent from the same period a year earlier, according to a recent release from Statistics Canada.
But among the handful of provinces to buck the trend was fast-growing Alberta, where renovation spending declined to $1.18 billion from $1.27 billion during the same three-month period in 2013.

Todd Hirsch, the chief economist at ATB Financial, speculated that some homeowners may have opted to move-up to bigger houses instead of claiming more living space by finishing their basements and attics. “Construction on new residential properties set close to record highs over the summer,” Hirsch wrote in a note to clients. “Instead of hiring contractors to rip out walls and flooring—or even trying to do it themselves—it seems some Albertans may have opted simply to move into something new…