Aspen Insurance sells $25-par preferreds; Allstate preferreds active; Citigroup higher

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Aug. 6 –The preferred market spent the Tuesday session recovering from Monday’s dive.

In the primary space, Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. priced a $250 million offering of $25-par perpetual non-cumulative preferred shares with a dividend of 5.625%.

Leading the day, Allstate Corp.’s new 5.1% series H fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock rose while its established 6.625% series E fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds were flat.

Elsewhere, in finance, Citigroup Capital XIII’s 7.875% fixed-to-floating rate trust preferred securities closed slightly positive.

Sector peer Capital One Financial Corp.’s 6.25% fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds also improved.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s 6% series EE non-cumulative preferreds followed the trend.

Utilities name Southern Co.’s 6.25% series 2015A junior subordinated notes due 2075 spent the session gaining.

Aspen upsized, prices

Aspen Insurance priced an upsized $250 million offering of $25-par perpetual non-cumulative preferred shares (Baa3/BBB-) with a dividend of 5.625%.

The deal, announced Tuesday morning, was upsized from an initial $125 million and came in under talk for a dividend in the 5.75% area.

Wells Fargo Securities LLC, BofA Securities, Inc. and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are the joint bookrunners.

The preferreds are redeemable on or after Oct. 1, 2024. Prior to that, they are redeemable after a capital disqualification event, tax event or ratings agency event at par. They are also redeemable within 90 days after a rating agency event at $25.50. They are also redeemable if the company submits a proposal to preferred holders for a vote at $26.00.

Allstate active

Insurance provider Allstate’s new 5.1% series H fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock was seen rising while its established 6.625% series E fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds were active but closed flat.

The series H preferreds, trading under the temporary symbol “ALLZL,” were up 10 cents to close at $25.27 on volume of about 1.8 million shares.

On Monday, the preferreds lost 8 cents.

The series E preferreds (NYSE: ALLPrE) closed level at $25.32 on volume of about 210,000 shares.

Citigroup better

Elsewhere, in the finance space, Citigroup’s 7.875% fixed-to-floating rate trust preferred securities saw slight positive movement.

The preferreds (NYSE: CPrN) picked up 1 cent to close at $26.79 with about 433,000 shares trading.

On Monday, the preferreds dropped 36 cents.

Sector peer Capitol One’s 6.25% fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds were also seen improving.

The preferreds (NYSE: COFPrC) were better by 11 cents to close at $25.66 on volume of about 260,000 shares.

JPMorgan’s 6% series EE non-cumulative preferreds followed the market’s positive trend.

The preferreds (NYSE: JPMPrC) garnered 12 cents to close at $27.40 with about 193,000 shares trading.

On Monday, the preferreds lost 18 cents.

Southern Co. gains

Meanwhile, utilities name Southern Co.’s 6.25% series 2015A junior subordinated notes due 2075 spent the session moving higher.

The notes (NYSE: SOJA) were up 7 cents to close at $26.01 on volume of about 150,000 notes.

On Monday, the notes shaved off 31 cents.

Indexes up

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index finished the day better by 0.24%.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF was up 14 cents to $37.02.

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