Ford, Customers sells $25-par notes; AXA preferreds rise; Fortress improves

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Dec. 4 – The preferred market saw blanket gains on Wednesday as new issuance continued to roll out.

The primary market saw Ford Motor Co. price an upsized $800 million offering of $25-par 40-year notes at par with a coupon of 6%.

Also, Customers Bancorp, Inc. announced that it sold $65 million of $25-par 15-year subordinated notes at par with a coupon of 5.375%.

In the secondary, AXA Equitable Holdings, Inc.’s 5.25% series A fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock rose.

Elsewhere in finance, SVB Financial Group’s new 5.25% series A fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock dipped.

Sector peer First Republic Bank’s 4.7% series J non-cumulative perpetual preferreds were also seen improving.

Transport leaser Fortress Transportation & Infrastructure Investors LLC’s 8% series B fixed-to-floating rate cumulative perpetual redeemable preferred shares followed the trend.

Asset manager Northern Trust Corp.’s 4.7% series E non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock moved into a better position.

Ford prices

The primary market saw Ford price an upsized $800 million offering of $25-par 40-year notes (BBB-/BBB) at par with a coupon of 6%.

There is no greenshoe.

The deal, announced Wednesday morning, was upsized from an initial $250 million and came in on the lower side of talk for a coupon in the 6.125% area.

BofA Securities, Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are the joint bookrunners.

The notes are redeemable on or after Dec. 1, 2024 at par.

Customer’s deal

Also, Customers Bancorp announced that it sold $65 million of $25-par 15-year subordinated notes (Kroll: BBB-) at par with a coupon of 5.375%.

There is a $9.75 million greenshoe.

The deal, announced Wednesday morning, was upsized from an initial $35 million and came in under talk for a coupon in the 5.5% area.

B. Riley FBR, Inc., D.A. Davidson & Co. and Janney Montgomery Scott LLC are the joint bookrunners.

The notes are redeemable on or after Dec. 30, 2029 at par. Prior to that, the notes are redeemable after a tax event, a tier 2 capital event or if the company is required to register as an investment company.

AXA rises

In the secondary market, AXA’s 5.25% series A fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock rose by the end of the day.

The preferreds (NYSE: EQHPrA) were up 7 cents to close at $25.03 on volume of about 1.1 million shares.

On Tuesday, the preferreds improved by 19 cents.

Elsewhere in the finance space, SVB’s new 5.25% series A fixed-rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock dipped.

The preferreds, trading under the temporary symbol “SIVBL,” shed 21 cents to close at $25.25 with about 587,000 shares trading.

On Tuesday, the preferreds closed above par.

Sector peer First Republic’s 4.7% series J non-cumulative perpetual preferreds were also seen improving as the session ended.

The preferreds (NYSE: FRCPrJ) added 5 cents to close at $24.87 on volume of about 538,000 shares.

Fortress better

Transportation leaser Fortress’ 8% series B fixed-to-floating rate cumulative perpetual redeemable preferred shares followed Wednesday’s trend.

The preferreds (NYSE: FTAIPrB) gained 13 cents to close at $25.45 on volume of about 427,000 shares.

Northern Trust higher

Meanwhile, asset manager Northern Trust’s 4.7% series E non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock moved into a better position.

The preferreds (Nasdaq: NTRSO) picked up 8 cents to close at $25.47 on volume of about 385,000 shares.

On Tuesday, the preferreds shaved off 5 cents.

Indexes up

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index finished up by 0.06%, giving back some of the 0.15% gain from early Wednesday trading.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF was up 5 cents to $36.82.

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