Public Storage new issue lists on NYSE; Aimco deal prices; RBS rallies, falls back by close

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Portland, Ore., July 26 - With still no word on a debt ceiling agreement, the preferred stock market remained subdued and ended essentially flat on Tuesday.

"The focus is still the same as [Monday]," a market source said. "It was another quiet day, probably ended flat. Activity levels were down."

However, activity in Public Storage's recent 6.35% series R cumulative preferreds was off the charts as the paper officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The new preferreds ended a tad lower than the previous session.

About halfway through the trading day, a trader said Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc paper was up as much as 40 cents "on no news that I can see." But by the end of business, the preferreds came back in to end about 2 cents to 5 cents weaker.

National Bank of Greece SA preferreds meantime regained nearly 6% of their value after losing more than 8% on Monday. The gains came as Fitch Ratings said it left unchanged its debt ratings on the bank - along with five others - due to the belief that the bailout plan approved last week will help the bank stay afloat.

New Public Storage lists

Public Storage's recent $425 million issue of 6.35% series R cumulative preferreds officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange, traders reported. The ticker symbol is "PSAPrA."

The preferreds closed at $24.95, which was down from levels closer to par on Monday. Volume was about 1 million preferreds.

The series Ks (NYSE: PSAPK) were meanwhile steady at $25.23. While volume was somewhat thin - about 71,400 preferreds - it was still well above the daily average of 55,320 preferreds.

Proceeds from the new issue will be used to redeem the series K preferreds next month, the Glendale, Calif.-based real estate investment trust has said.

Aimco deal prices

Among other new issues, Apartment Investment & Management Co. priced $20 million of 7% class Z preferreds at a discount on Tuesday.

The deal was originally announced last week.

The 800,000 preferreds were issued at $24.25 each for total proceeds of $19.4 million.

The Denver-based REIT originally stated that it had to sell at least 1 million preferreds in order for the deal to go through, but that provision was taken out early Tuesday ahead of pricing.

A trader said he had not "really seen any markets in it."

RBS rises, then falls

Royal Bank of Scotland's preferreds opened 15 cent to 20 cents higher, a market source said. Another called the securities up 30 cents to 40 cents about halfway through the day. However, the preferreds eventually came back in to close weaker.

The second source said he had seen no news out to explain the early gains but noted that Tuesday was the last trading day of the month for some firms.

"They weakened around 1 p.m. [ET]," the first source said.

The series Gs (NYSE: RBSPG) were one of the day's most actively traded issues, with about 806,800 preferreds trading. They closed down a nickel at $13.60.

Among other active financials, Ally Financial Inc.'s 8.5% series A preferreds (NYSE: ALLYPA) lost a dime to finish at $25.80 on volume of about 577,000 preferreds. Citigroup Inc.'s series Js (NYSE: CPJ) dropped 4 cents to $25.68. About 437,5000 of the preferreds changed hands.

Greek bank pops

National Bank of Greece's 9% series A preferreds (NYSE: NBGPA) gained 47 cents, or 5.82%, to close at $8.55.

A market source said he was unsure what was driving the Greek bank higher as "they are obviously going to take hits when Greece defaults."

He said the paper "popped up" around midday. At that point, Fitch Ratings had come out and said that it was maintaining its B- long-term issuer default ratings on six Greek banks including National Bank of Greece. The ratings remain on Rating Watch negative.

Fitch has a C rating on National Bank of Greece's preferreds.

The agency said its decision to keep the ratings unchanged was due to the new bailout plan approved by European leaders last week. The agency further stated that the ratings "continue to reflect Fitch's assumption that international support from the IMF/EU/ECB in respect of Greek banks' liquidity requirements, recapitalization and refinancing will remain in place during Greece's debt restructuring/refinancing plan."

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