Macquarie Power & Infrastructure Corp has changed its name to Capstone Infrastructure Corp (TSX: CSE, OTC: MCQPF). The stock traded Monday under its old Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) symbol MPT. Going forward, it should begin trading soon under the symbol CSE on the TSX. The MCQPF symbol for trading in the US over-the-counter (OTC) market remains in use, at least for the moment.

The name change is part of a management internalization that has taken all such functions in house at the company. The move should reduce costs and enhance the management team’s ability to add new projects, such as the purchase of a 33.3 percent ownership interest in a district heating business in Sweden that was consummated earlier this month.

There’s no change to the 5.5 cents Canadian monthly dividend, nor is this a taxable event. Rather, shareholders on both sides of the border will receive one share of Capstone Infrastructure Corp for every share of Macquarie Power & Infrastructure previously held. That process should take place over the next several days.

Note that Capstone/Macquarie is now issuing a similar forecast to Atlantic Power Corp’s (TSX: ATP, NYSE: AT), expressing dividend safety by the number of years it can be sustained with no new assets and assuming a worst-case for existing ones. Capstone’s current worst-case safety date is 2014, a number I expect to see extended well into the future. A new contract for output from the Cardinal power plant could bring a dividend increase in the next few years as well.

My advice remains–for those who don’t own it–to buy Capstone Infrastructure Corp, the new name for Macquarie Power & Infrastructure Corp, up to USD9. The current yield is about 8.6 percent. It’s a qualified dividend for US investors. 2010 taxes should be accounted for as 79 percent tax-free return of capital–reduced from cost basis with no current tax–with the remaining 21 percent as qualified dividends. Details are available on the Macquarie/Capstone website.