Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

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SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Equity [Abstract]  
CAPITAL STOCK
NOTE 14 - SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
Share Repurchase Program
In November 2018, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized a program to repurchase outstanding common shares in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, up to a maximum of $200 million, excluding commissions and fees. In April 2019, we announced that our Board of Directors increased the common share repurchase authorization by an additional $100 million, excluding commissions and fees. During 2019, we repurchased 24.4 million common shares at a cost of $252.9 million in the aggregate, including commissions and fees. During 2018, we repurchased 5.4 million common shares at a cost of approximately $47.5 million in aggregate, including commissions and fees. The share repurchase program was active until December 31, 2019.
Dividends
The below table summarizes our recent dividend activity:
Declaration Date
 
Record Date
 
Payment Date
 
Dividend Declared per Common Share1
12/2/2019
 
1/3/2020
 
1/15/2020
 
$
0.06

9/3/2019
 
10/4/2019
 
10/15/2019
 
$
0.10

5/31/2019
 
7/5/2019
 
7/15/2019
 
$
0.06

2/19/2019
 
4/5/2019
 
4/15/2019
 
$
0.05

10/18/2018
 
1/4/2019
 
1/15/2019
 
$
0.05

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1 The dividend declared on September 3, 2019 included a special cash dividend of $0.04 per common share.
 

Common Share Public Offering
On February 9, 2017, we issued 63.3 million common shares in an underwritten public offering at a public offering price of $10.75 per common share. We received net proceeds of $661.3 million. The net proceeds from the issuance of our common shares were used to redeem various tranches of our outstanding long-term debt. Refer to NOTE 6 - DEBT AND CREDIT FACILITIES for further information.
Preferred Stock
We have 3,000,000 Class A preferred shares authorized and 4,000,000 Class B preferred shares authorized; no preferred shares are issued or outstanding.