Trading in Fifth Third, Alabama Power halted; Public Storage to call preferreds; UMH quiet

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Portland, Ore., May 19 - The preferred stock market was "very quiet," a trader said Thursday, following Wednesday's flurry of redemptions.

The trader noted that trading in Fifth Third Bancorp's series C preferreds was halted Thursday morning after the company said it would call the issue earlier than planned.

Trading in Alabama Power Co. also ceased after the Southern Co. subsidiary announced a call of its own after the bell Wednesday.

In other redemption news, Public Storage is planning to call its series I preferreds. The shares traded up slightly on the news.

In the new issue realm, the new UMH Properties Inc. deal had still not priced and markets were nowhere to be seen. Seaspan Corp. meantime announced an add-on to its series C preferreds, which were originally priced back in January.

Fifth Third trading halted

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third announced Wednesday that it was redeeming early $450 million of its trust preferred securities through the end of June.

The news caused "huge sell pressure" during Wednesday's session, but trading was halted come Thursday, according to a trader.

Still, the 8.875% capital trust VII securities (NYSE: FTBPC) traded down before the halt, losing 4 cents to end at $25.16.

"That's a 6.88% yield to call, which is not too bad," a trader said.

The securities are being called at par plus accrued and unpaid dividends of $0.1848958 through the June 15 redemption date.

Fifth Third is also calling its floating-rate capital securities linked to First National Bankshares on June 30 and R&G Capital Trust II LLT's floating-rate capital securities on June 26.

Alabama ceases to trade

Three series of Alabama Power's preferreds also ceased to trade Thursday following news of a call late Wednesday.

The 5.875% series GG senior notes due Feb. 1, 2046 (NYSE: ALQ) finished at $25.50, the 5.875% series II senior notes due March 15, 2046 (NYSE: ALZ) at $25.66 and the 6.375% series JJ senior notes due June 15, 2046 at $25.94.

The securities will be redeemed at par plus accrued and unpaid dividends through the redemption date, which is June 20.

The Birmingham, Ala.-based power company sold $450 million of debt in two tranches on Wednesday. Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund the redemption.

Public Storage redemption

Public Storage also announced a call late Wednesday. In response, the Glendale, Calif.-based real estate investment trust's preferreds moved up.

The company is calling about $167.5 million of its 7.25% series I cumulative preferred shares (NYSE: PSAPRI) on June 20 at par plus accrued dividends from April 1 through the redemption date.

The preferred shares traded up a penny to $25.41.

No word on UMH

UMH Properties did not price its planned new issue of 25 million of series A cumulative redeemable perpetual preferreds, and traders reported that there weren't even gray markets for the new securities.

Price talk is 8.25% to 8.375%.

UMH is a Freehold, N.J.-based REIT.

Seaspan to price add-on

A trader said Seaspan was "reopening the pipeline" of its 9.5% series C cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred shares.

The deal will come as an add-on to the $250 million deal done Jan. 21.

The trader said he thought the new shares would be sold at $27.00 per share, though he did not know how many shares would be issued.

"They didn't want to do another preferred transaction, although they should have," he said.

Pricing is expected Friday.

Seaspan is a Hong Kong-based containership company.

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