Distressed market finishes shortened week with a low murmur; RBS preferred stocks end mixed

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, March 28 - A distressed debt trader said that aside from a new high-yield bond issue from Frontier Communications Inc., there wasn't much activity on Thursday.

"It's the last day before a holiday weekend," he said. "What do you expect?"

The week has been a generally slow one anyway given Passover at the start of the week and spring break.

"The week itself was fairly low-key," another trader said. "Maybe we'll pick back up once the new quarter starts."

One name that has been "creeping up all week," according to a trader, was Eastman Kodak Co. The "non-rolled-up second-lien bonds" - i.e., the leftover stubs of the 9¾% notes due 2018 and the 10 5/8% notes due 2019 - were ending the week in the high 40s. They had started trading in the low 40s at the beginning of the week, the trader said.

Another trader said that Ambac Financial Group Inc.'s bonds were easing come end-of-week trading after a recent climb upward. He speculated that investors were simply taking profits.

The trader quoted the company's surplus notes at 82 bid, 83 offered, though he added that there was "very little trading in them today."

RBS ends mixed

Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc preferreds continued to be on the active side, just one day after the Bank of England said the nation's financial institutions had a combined £25 billion capital shortfall.

However, after all the issues lost ground on Wednesday, the preferreds were mixed as they finished off the week on Thursday.

The 6.08% noncumulative guaranteed trust preferreds (NYSE: RBSPG) rose 57 cents, or 2.72%, to $21.55.

The 7.25% series T noncumulative dollar preference shares (NYSE: RBSPT) dropped 3 cents to $24.36.

RBS is an Edinburgh-based bank.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.