Priceline, Illumina trade in line; Medivation, Isis in focus; Prospect Capital bid lower

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Aug. 26 – Priceline Group Inc. and Illumina Inc. convertibles were trading flat, or in line with their underlying shares, on Tuesday amid generally quiet market action. Both the primary and secondary markets seem to have been put on hold until after the Labor Day holiday and the unofficial end of summer.

Priceline’s $1 billion of 0.9% convertibles, which priced earlier this month, settled basically unchanged at 98.375 bid, 98.625 offered on Tuesday versus shares that were fractionally higher at $1,277.52, a New York-based trader said.

The trader said his firm was relatively active in Priceline, but he pointed out that everything was very quiet, and “too quiet,” in fact, “to decide one way or the other” which way pricing was going.

The Priceline 1% convertibles were seen on Trace data changing hands down 1.25 points at 145.5.

Medivation Inc.’s 2.625% convertibles due 2017 were also pretty active Tuesday after the issue jumped in tandem with the underlying shares of the San Francisco-based drug developer on Monday, and pricing remained higher on Tuesday at about 177, which was up from about 171 for the bonds.

Medivation shares remained near the flat line at $88.62 on Tuesday after jumping on Monday. The stock has added almost 12% in the last month.

Elsewhere, Prospect Capital Corp.’s $400 million of 4.75% convertibles were “hanging in pretty well,” despite lower shares following earnings that missed estimates, a market source said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
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