AmEx, Regions price FDIC notes; Shell, General Dynamics, Cox, two utilities do deals; Shell widens

By Andrea Heisinger

New York, Dec. 8 - It was an unusually busy start to the week, with a mix of names pricing notes, including Shell International Finance BV, General Dynamics Corp., Wisconsin Electric Power Co., Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co., Cox Communications Inc., Regions Bank and American Express.

The Regions Bank and American Express deals were each backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Temporary Liquidity Guarantee.

In the secondary market, the Shell notes were seen wider after pricing, surprising one trader who called the move "ugly."

Shell prices $2.75 billion

Shell priced $2.75 billion of 6.375% 30-year guaranteed notes at 99.469 to yield 6.415%, or Treasuries plus 325 basis points.

The notes priced in line with talk that was in the 325 bps area, a source said.

Barclays Capital Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. were the bookrunners.

General Dynamics does $1 billion

Defense contractor General Dynamics priced $1 billion of 5.25% five-year notes at 99.528 to yield 5.354%, or Treasuries plus 365 bps.

Bookrunners were Banc of America Securities LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.

AmEx sells FDIC notes

The banking branch of American Express priced $5.25 billion of notes in three tranches.

There was "a lot of demand seen in these notes," a source close to the deal said. The trade was first mentioned at the end of last week and followed the trend of compiling the books during a longer period of time.

The largest tranche was $3.5 billion of 3.15% three-year notes priced at 99.921 to yield 3.178%, or Treasuries plus 195 bps.

The $500 million of two-year floaters priced at par to yield one-month Libor plus 85 bps.

The $1.25 billion of three-year floaters priced at par to yield one-month Libor plus 98 bps.

Bookrunners were Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Banc of America and J.P. Morgan Securities.

Regions prices FDIC notes

Regions Bank priced $3.5 billion of FDIC-backed notes in four tranches of fixed- and floating-rate notes.

The $250 million of short-dated floaters due 2010 priced at par to yield three-month Libor plus 40 bps.

The $500 million of two-year floaters priced at par to yield three-month Libor plus 65 bps.

The third tranche of $1 billion 2.75% two-year notes priced at 99.931 to yield 2.786%, or Treasuries plus 182.75 bps.

The final tranche - $1.75 billion of 3.25% three-year notes - priced at 99.907 to yield 3.283%, or Treasuries plus 202.75 bps.

Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse Securities and Goldman Sachs & Co. were bookrunners.

Cox prices $600 million

Cox Communications priced $600 million of 9.375% 10-year senior unsecured notes to yield Treasuries plus 675 bps.

Citigroup, Banc of America Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey ran the books.

Two utilities price

Oklahoma Gas & Electric and Wisconsin Electric Power each priced new deals Monday.

OG&E sold $250 million of 8.25% 10-year senior notes to yield Treasuries plus 549 bps. The amount was what the company had announced in a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier in the day.

Mizuho Securities, RBS Greenwich Capital and UBS Investment Bank were bookrunners.

Wisconsin Electric priced $250 million of 6.25% debentures due 2015. They were priced at 99.941 to yield 6.261%, or Treasuries plus 425 bps.

The deal was run by Banc of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and SunTrust.

JPMorgan gives FDIC terms

JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced terms Monday for its $1.25 billion of two-year FDIC-backed notes that priced Friday.

According to an FWP filing with the SEC, the 2.625% notes priced at 99.975 to yield 2.638%, or Treasuries plus 171.2 bps.

JPMorgan ran the books.

Day's issues a mix

Although they were outsized by the FDIC-backed issues, non-financial names overtook financials for the day. The focus was still mainly on the FDIC-backed issues, a source said.

"I think people saw there was some positivity, and that's why a lot of [companies] issued," he said.

The FDIC-backed deals were talked about last week and were no surprise. Many of the industrial names that priced simply needed to issue debt and saw a window, a market source said.

It was "technically a good day," he said.

"Futures were good and equities were up," the source said.

The source said it was hard to tell whether the probable bailout of the three major automakers was a good or bad thing but noted it didn't have much impact on the investment-grade primary. The impact of an upcoming stimulus package for the economy also didn't make much of an impression, he said.

It was a busy start to the week, which is abnormal, the source said.

"It was a heavy load early on," he said. "The market isn't used to that. We may see more price discovery and have more people wait until the latter half of the week [to issue]."

Shell bonds widen

Shell International Finance's 6.4% 30-year bonds were seen "ugly" after pricing, widening 10 to 15 bps, a trader said. The bonds priced at 325 bps.

Wisconsin Electric unchanged

The Wisconsin Electric 6.25% bonds due 2015 were seen unchanged after pricing, a trader said, at 425 bps bid, which was where the bonds priced.

General Dynamics unchanged

The General Dynamics 5.25% five-year notes were seen unchanged after pricing, a trader said, at 425 bps bid, which was the pricing level.

Citi perpetuals top trading

Citigroup Inc.'s 8.4% perpetual bonds were seen at the top of the trading volume Monday afternoon.

This came after a stimulus package was announced by president-elect Barack Obama, causing other financial names to see a boost in volume as well.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. and General Electric Capital Corp. rounded out the top five in trading volume for the day.

Non-financial volume up

A trend of the last two weeks was reversed Monday as non-financial issues outnumbered those backed by the FDIC.

A trader said it was "pretty busy" by late afternoon. Many of the deals that priced weren't seen moving much in the secondary, however.

This was different from the previous week, when deals from Hewlett-Packard and Caterpillar tightened sharply in the days after pricing.

The trader could not explain the widening of the Shell notes, only expressing surprise when he realized they had moved out instead of in.

Rogers, Dow top movers

A sharp move came from Dow Chemical, which saw its 5.7% bonds due 2018 widen more than 60 bps. The company announced it would slash jobs and close plants amid the economic woes.

Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. was seen as another big mover for the day after the low-BBB rated company was named one of the top 10 global telecom providers by UBS Investment Research.

Rogers' 9.625% bonds due 2011 tightened nearly 50 bps on the news.

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