General Finance prices; U.S. Bancorp preferreds below par; AT&T declines

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Oct. 21 – In the middle of the week, the preferred market saw blanket negativity through Wednesday’s activity.

In primary activity, General Finance Corp. priced a $40 million offering of $25-par senior notes due Oct. 31, 2025 with a coupon of 7.875% at par.

At the top of the day’s secondary volume, U.S. Bancorp’s 3.75% series L non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock ended below par.

Also in the finance space, Wells Fargo & Co.’s 4.75% series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock followed the trend.

Sector peer Capital One Financial Corp.’s 4.8% series J fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds fell.

Meanwhile, telecom services giant AT&T, Inc.’s 4.75% series C perpetual preferred stock declined by the end of the afternoon.

Retirement name Athene Holding Ltd.’s 6.375% series C fixed-rate reset perpetual non-cumulative preference shares were under water.

General Finance prices

In primary activity, General Finance priced a $40 million offering of $25-par senior notes due Oct. 31, 2025 with a coupon of 7.875% at par on Wednesday.

There is a $9 million greenshoe.

Announced on Tuesday, the offering was upsized from an initial $40 million and came in under talk for a yield of 8%.

D.A. Davidson & Co., B. Riley Securities, Inc. and Janney Montgomery Scott LLC are the bookrunners.

The notes are redeemable on or after Oct. 31, 2022 at par plus a make-whole premium of 50 basis points. Prior to that, the notes are redeemable after three years at 104.5, after four years at 102.25 and during the fifth year at par.

U.S. Bancorp loses

At the top of the day’s secondary activity, U.S. Bancorp’s 3.75% series L non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock ended its first session below par.

The preferreds, trading under the temporary symbol “UBKPL,” were seen closing at $24.69 on volume of about 5.7 million shares.

The deal priced on Tuesday.

Also in the finance space, Wells Fargo’s 4.75% series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock followed the downward trend.

The preferreds (NYSE: WFCPrZ) gave up 7 cents to close at $25.19 with about 670,000 shares trading.

On Tuesday, the preferreds were docked 3 cents.

Sector peer Capital One’s 4.8% series J fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds fell as activity concluded.

The preferreds (NYSE: COFPrJ) shaved off 13 cents to close at $24.75 on volume of about 255,000 shares.

On Tuesday, the preferreds moved up 7 cents.

AT&T declines

Meanwhile, telecom services giant AT&T’s 4.75% series C perpetual preferred stock declined by the end of the afternoon.

The preferreds (NYSE: TPrC) lopped off 25 cents to close at $25.28 with about 330,000 shares trading.

On Tuesday, the preferreds rose 3 cents.

Athene under

Retirement name Athene’s 6.375% series C fixed-rate reset perpetual non-cumulative preference shares were under water.

The preferreds (NYSE: ATHPrC) dived 30 cents to close at $26.99 on volume of about 165,000 shares trading.

Indexes down

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index ended the session down by 0.71%, falling from a 0.03% gain from early Wednesday trading.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF was down 29 cents to $36.55.

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