Week ahead looks active; recent Ultra Petroleum, Air Methods mixed; NOVA down

By Colin Hanner and Paul A. Harris

Chicago, April 17 – It was another lethargic session in the high-yield secondary market on Monday, traders said, with the quietness of the holiday weekend extending into a session dominated by bonds staying close to where they started, but the week ahead in the primary market looked to be active, with Laureate Education, Inc.’s $800 million senior note offering – expected to price Friday – the largest in the works.

“There just wasn’t really that much trading at all,” a trader said, adding that the holiday weekend, paired with vacations, has kept markets stagnated. Plus, the past week has been host to a “lot of geopolitical risks, so people aren’t jumping back into it very quickly,” the trader said.

The recent issue from Ultra Petroleum Corp. – which includes $700 million of five-year notes which priced at par to yield 6 7/8% and $500 million of 7 1/8% eight-year notes priced at 98.507 to yield 7 3/8% – were flat or down fractionally on the day.

Air Methods Corp., which priced a downsized $500 million calendar offering of eight-year notes on Thursday, was up slightly.

Plastics and chemical company NOVA Chemicals Corp. bonds were down after the company announced an asset purchase on Monday morning.

Health care stocks slid after Hospital Corporation of America announced a dismal forecast of its first quarter earnings, though health care bonds on the whole were largely unaffected, a trader said.

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