Preferreds weaken amid light volume; Radiant joins calendar; First Republic lists on NYSE

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, Oct. 30 – A preferred stock trader said that "everything is just stagnant" in the market early Wednesday.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index was off 4 basis points as of midday, growing to down 10 bps by the end of business.

A market source also noted that volume was "definitely lighter" on the day. Citigroup Inc.'s recent $1.3 billion issue of 6.875% series K fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative preferreds were the busiest security of the day, with over 2.5 million shares changing hands.

The next most active among paying securities was Wells Fargo & Co.'s 5.85% series Q fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative preferreds (NYSE: WFCPQ), which saw trading of about 484,000 shares.

The Citigroup preferreds ended the day at $24.87, off a penny, while the Wells issue closed at $24.28, down 4 cents.

A trader commented that in its earnings conference call, General Motors Co. said it would be "cleaning up its remaining preferreds" come 2014.

Also, the trader said that Connecticut Light and Power Co. planned to seek preferred shareholder approval to allow the company to issue new unsecured debt. The trader pointed out that it would be bad for the preferreds and it would be better for investors if the company simply redeemed the shares before issuing new debt.

Meanwhile, Radiant Logistics Inc. said it planned to sell up to $28.75 million of series A cumulative redeemable preferreds, adding another new issue to the calendar.

And, as was expected, First Republic Bank's $200 million of 7% series E noncumulative perpetual preferreds - a deal that priced Oct. 21 - were admitted to the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The ticker symbol is "FRCPE." Paper was trading at $25.01 at midday, up from opening levels of $24.99.

The issue ended the day at par.

AgriBank, F.N.B. do well

A market source said AgriBank FCB's $250 million of 6.875% series A fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative perpetual preferreds - a Rule 144A offering that came Tuesday - had "done pretty well" in Wednesday trading.

The source said the issue finished the session above par.

F.N.B. Corp.'s $100 million of 7.25% series E fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative perpetual preferreds were meantime pegged in a par to $25.05 range.

That issue also priced on Tuesday.

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