Secondary eyed amid 'final washout'; Safe Bulkers, AmTrust plan deals; Greek bank declines

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, June 3 - Two new issues were hitting the preferred stock market tape on Monday, but a volatile secondary market was taking precedence, according to a trader.

"The secondary was getting crushed for the last couple of days," the trader said, pointing to a sell-off in Treasuries as the initial cause. He speculated that there was also some "fund rebalancing" at the end of the month.

With the recent volatility, as well as expected economic data coming this week, "people are more concerned with what's going on in the secondary.

"It's the final washout from last week," he said.

"It was a rough day in the preferred market," another source said. He added that the market was down about 63 basis points, or about 16 cents on average for $25-par issues.

As to the day's new deals, Safe Bulkers Inc. said it was planning a sale of series B cumulative redeemable preferreds. The company is conducting both a private and a public offering of the securities.

Price talk is around 8%, a trader said, though he had not seen any markets for the Incapital LLC-led deal.

"Usually these things are done in a best-efforts kind of way," he said.

AmTrust Financial Services Inc. also said it would price a deal, at least $100 million of series A noncumulative perpetual preferreds.

Price talk was around 6.75%, and the size was expected to grow, the trader said.

Both new issues are expected to be nonrated.

Shortly after the market close, a market source noted that AmTrust had yet to price, also remarking that Safe Bulkers was expected to come later in the week.

"The market was [so bad] today, I don't think anything got done in the primary," the source said.

National Bank plans tender

National Bank of Greece SA's $2.25 series A noncumulative preference shares (NYSE: NBGPA) have been more active of late, and Monday's session was no different as investors reacted to news of a tender offer.

The tender was announced on Friday.

The shares were down 3 cents at $12.41.

The Greek bank said Friday that it would call 22.5 million of the 25 million outstanding shares for $12.50 per share.

The offer expires June 28.

National Retail, Callon list

In new listings, National Retail Properties Inc.'s $250 million of 5.7% series E cumulative perpetual preferreds were admitted to the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "NNNPE."

The deal priced May 22. The issue was trading at $24.51 at midday, versus opening levels of $24.75.

The issue closed at $24.52.

Also listed were Callon Petroleum Corp.'s $78.95 million of 10% $50-par series A cumulative perpetual preferreds.

The symbol is "CPEPA." That deal also came May 22.

The paper was trading at $47.00 at midday, down 13 cents from the previous close. The final price was $46.50, down 62 cents, or 1.33%, for the day.

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