Allstate sells $500 million preferreds; GDL Fund announces results of public offering

By James McCandless

San Antonio, March 26 – The preferred stock market was quiet to start the holiday week, with traders expecting the rest of the week to be just as slow.

The Allstate Corp. brought an upsized $500 million pricing to market on Monday in $25 par series G fixed-rate noncumulative perpetual preferred stock.

GDL Fund announced the results of its offering for $131 million of series C cumulative putable and callable preferred shares.

Citigroup’s preferreds were active but remained around the same level.

Allstate’s deal

After the market close, Allstate priced an upsized $500 million of $25 par series G fixed-rate noncumulative perpetual preferred stock (Baa3/BBB-), reports confirmed, with a yield of 5.625%. Dividends will be payable quarterly beginning on June 15, 2018.

Price talk had originally pegged the offering at $200 million.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch, UBS Investment Bank and Wells Fargo Securities LLC are the joint bookrunners.

The preferreds will trade in the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “ALLPrG.”

GDL oversubscribed

GDL Fund announced the results of its $131.2 million offering of series C cumulative putable and callable preferred shares, receiving around $153 million in subscriptions, a market source confirmed.

The preferreds pay a dividend of 4% for the first year. The board of trustees will then announce a fixed rate for years two and three, and then a fixed rate for the remaining term up to the redemption date of March 26, 2025. The rates will be not less than 4% and not more than 6%.

Holders may put the preferreds on March 26, 2020 and March 26, 2022, and the preferreds may be called on March 26, 2021 and March 26, 2023.

The preferred will be listed on the NYSE.

Citigroup active

Amid a slower day in preferred shares, Citigroup saw a bevy of activity in its preferred N shares, while remaining level.

“It came in late in the day, but it was one of the most active,” a trader said.

Traders saw it land at $26.98 to close, up $0.02 on the day.

Indices mixed

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index, which was up 0.03% to start the day, closed down by 0.02%

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF remained unchanged at $37.43.

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