Morning Commentary: Jones Energy deal quiet after pricing on the cheap end; Blackhawk in line

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Aug. 19 – Jones Energy Inc.’s new 8% convertible preferred shares were quiet in the early going on Friday, market sources said, after the Austin, Texas-based oil and gas company priced an upsized $80 million of the perpetual paper at the cheap end of talk.

The Jones deal, while upsized to $80 million from $50 million, was still small and seen as unlikely to have much trading or follow through after the initial pricing, a New York-based trader said.

Elsewhere, there was a smattering of trade, but the market was mostly quiet and in line as the ramp up to one of the last summer weekends thinned the ranks of market players.

Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. traded a few times and was lower outright, but in line to higher by 0.125 point on a dollar-neutral, or hedged, basis, a trader said, against a 1% drop in the Blackhawk common shares that underlie the bond.

The Blackhawk 1.5% convertibles due 2022 were seen at 99 bid, 99.5 offered against an underlying share price of $32.80.

The substantial, $500 million Blackhawk deal that priced initially last month was seeing some buying by outright investors and some selling by hedged investors on Friday.

The Blackhawk convertibles were basically “in line,” a trader said. “There was nothing too telling from the hedge side.”

© 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.