Safe Bulkers prices; National General’s recent deal active, better; SunTrust dominates

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, June 23 – A preferred stock trader said he was hearing at least three new deals were going to hit the pipeline this week.

Safe Bulkers Inc. got the ball rolling on Monday, pricing a $70 million offering of 8% series D cumulative redeemable perpetual preferreds.

Prior to pricing, a trader said he had yet to see any gray markets for that issue, which was coming via Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and UBS Securities LLC.

After the deal came, the trader quoted the issue at $24.60 bid, $24.70 offered.

After the market closed, a market source said he hadn’t seen any quotes for the paper.

“It’s like a B+ type preferred,” he said, adding it was “not exactly a great credit.”

As for the company’s existing preferreds, the 8% series C cumulative redeemable perpetual preferreds (NYSE: SBPC) ended the day down 13 cents at $25.21. The preferred issue gyrated wildly throughout the day, hitting a low of $25.06 and a high of $25.34.

Among recent deals, National General Holdings Corp.’s $55 million of 7.5% series A noncumulative preferreds – a deal that priced Wednesday – were quoted at $24.70 bid, $24.75 offered early in the day.

A source said after the bell that the issue was among the day’s most liquidly traded securities, closing up 15 cents to $24.85.

As for JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s $850 million of 6.3% series W noncumulative perpetual preferreds, they were pegged at $24.83 bid.

That issue entered the market on June 17.

Overall, the preferred stock market was firm as the week started.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index ended up 14 basis points, “which really isn’t a lot considering how much it was down in the last half hour of trading on Friday,” a source commented.

The source also noted that total volume for the day was quite muted – only one paying issue saw trades of over 400,000, he said.

That issue was SunTrust Banks Inc.’s variable-rate series A perpetual preferreds (NYSE: STIPA), which dropped 17 cents to $20.35.

Just over 844,000 shares changed hands.

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