Midday Commentary: Tsakos Energy added to new issue calendar; Sotherly prices but stays quiet

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, Sept. 25 - More new deals were hitting the tape in the preferred stock market on Wednesday.

Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd., an Athens, Greece-based ocean shipping company, said it was planning an offering of series C cumulative redeemable perpetual preferreds.

Price talk is around 8.875%, according to a trader.

"It's not trading around much [in the gray market]," the trader said, seeing an offer of less 10 cents at midday. "They still might have the book pretty open to people."

However, the trader commented that he had not seen anything in Sotherly Hotels LP's $24 million of 8% $25-par senior notes due 2018, a deal that priced early in the session on Wednesday.

"It's a tiny deal," he said. "Anybody that wanted it could have gotten it probably."

As for other recently priced deals, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc.'s $750 million of 7.125% series E fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative preferreds were "hanging right around" a $25.15 to $25.20 context, the trader said. He noted that the deal was a little unusual, as it freed from the syndicate shortly after pricing on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Allstate Corp.'s $350 million of 6.75% series C fixed-rate noncumulative preferreds were "creeping up" to $24.86 bid, $24.90 offered.

That issue priced Monday and freed up on Tuesday.

Looking forward, the trader said he had not heard of any deals coming to market but speculated that "we could see a busier calendar with the bond market being relatively stable."

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