Sale generates gain for Power

Article Excerpt

POWER CORP. OF CANADA $47 is a buy. The conglomerate (Toronto symbol POW; Conservative-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 646.3 million; Market cap: $30.4 billion; Dividend yield: 4.8%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.powercorporation.com) holds controlling stakes in Canadian financial services firms Great-West Lifeco (insurance) and IGM Financial (mutual funds). It also owns 16.5% of the Belgian holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. With the May 2024 payment, the company raised your quarterly dividend by 7.1%, to $0.5625 a share from $0.525. The annual rate of $2.25 yields a high 4.8%. Power’s private equity business, Sagard Holdings, has agreed to sell its 42.6% stake in hockey equipment maker Peak Achievement Athletics—its brands include Bauer, Cascade Lacrosse and Maverik Lacrosse—to Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (Toronto symbol FFH). The company will receive $325 million U.S., and expects to realize an after-tax gain of $195 million U.S. Power Corp. of Canada is a buy. buy…