Maiden, Endurance trade under temporary symbols; U.S. Cellular; National Bank of Greece up

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, Nov. 20 – New issues from the week continued to be in focus in early Friday preferred stock trading, according to a trader.

The issues were also popping “a little bit,” the trader said.

Maiden Holdings Ltd.’s $150 million of 7.125% series C noncumulative preference shares were initially quoted wide at $24.77 bid, $24.90 offered, which was up from a $24.65 to $24.70 context seen Thursday. The paper eventually closed at $24.78, which was up 8 cents from Thursday’s close but down from opening levels of $24.90.

The deal came Wednesday and freed to trade on Thursday. The trader said the shares were assigned a temporary reporting symbol on Friday, “MDNHF.”

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo Securities LLC were the bookrunners.

Meanwhile, Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd.’s $200 million of 6.35% series C noncumulative preferreds were pegged at $24.85 bid, $24.90 offered early in the session.

The issue finished at $24.88, up 8 cents day over day and better than opening levels of $24.83.

The deal was one of the most actively traded securities on Friday.

The preferreds came Tuesday via Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

Like Maiden, the issue has been assigned a temporary symbol, “ENHFF.”

From Monday’s business, United States Cellular Corp.’s $300 million of 7.25% $25-par senior unsecured notes due 2064 were seen at $24.87 bid, $24.90 offered.

BofA, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets and UBS Securities LLC ran the books on that issue.

Greek bank bounces

National Bank of Greece SA’s $2.25 series A noncumulative preference shares (NYSE: NBGPA) were one of the day’s more actively traded issues after it announced late Thursday that it had wrapped the book-building process on a private placement of new ordinary shares.

The preferred shares rose $1.70, or 22.22%, to $9.35.

In its announcement, the Greek bank said it had set the offer price for the new shares at €0.02 apiece, or €0.30 per share after a 15-to-1 reverse share split. The demand for the new issue, when combined with the results of a recent tender offer, are expected to result in proceeds of approximately €1.17 billion.

The bank also intends to launch a public offer in Greece for new shares, set at the same terms as the private placement. That offering is expected to bring in €300 million.

Those funds, combined with €3.08 million in new capital from the implementation of burden-sharing measures, are expected to more than cover a baseline capital shortfall of about €1.46 billion, the bank said.

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