Primary opens year softly, as calendar expected to build; energy names busy as oil gyrates

By Paul Deckelman and Paul A. Harris

New York, Jan. 3 – Things were quiet on Tuesday as 2017 officially kicked off in Junkbondland, following Monday’s New Year’s Day market close and before that the extended late-December wind-down of both new-deal and secondary-arena trading.

With market participants straggling back to their desks after the holiday break, there were no firm developments in the primary market, with syndicate sources reporting that no new deals had even been announced during the session, let alone having priced.

However, they said that could soon change.

They noted the presence on the forward calendar of several deals that had emerged late last year as likely early-January pricings, including an expected $1.015 billion bridged offering backing the leveraged buy-out of physician services provider TeamHealth Holdings Inc. and $625 million of eight-year notes as part of the financing for another LBO deal, for packaging company Novolex Holdings, Inc.

Market participants expressed optimism that the calendar would grow further in the coming days.

In the secondary sphere, there was action in some of the energy issues, including the recently priced Noble Holding International Ltd. deal, as well as sector bellwether California Resources Corp.

They were seen higher on the day, even though crude oil prices remained under pressure; while oil initially firmed from its recent lows, it later gave all of that back and then some to end lower for a third straight session.

© 2015 Prospect News.
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