Morning Commentary: Franchise taps market; W.R. Berkley on tap; Qwest $25-par notes down

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Sept. 16 – The preferred space opened the middle of the week with continued upward movement as the Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index began up by 0.12%.

Wednesday primary activity began with Franchise Group, Inc. pricing a $30 million offering of $25-par series A cumulative perpetual preferred stock with a dividend of 7.5%.

There is a $4.5 million greenshoe.

B. Riley Securities, Inc., Incapital LLC, D.A. Davidson & Co., Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., National Securities Corp. and Aegis Capital Corp. are the bookrunners.

The preferreds are redeemable on or after Sept. 16, 2025 at par. Prior to that, the preferreds are redeemable within 90 days after a delisting event at par or 120 days after a change of control at par.

Also, W.R. Berkley Corp. said it plans to sell an offering of $25-par subordinated debentures due Sept. 30, 2060.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, BofA Securities, Inc., UBS Securities LLC and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC are the bookrunners.

The debentures are redeemable on or after Sept. 30, 2025 at par. Prior to that, the debentures are redeemable within 90 days after a tax event at par or within 90 days after a rating agency event 102%.

At the top of the early secondary space, Qwest Corp.’s 6.125% notes due 2053 and 6.5% notes due 2056 were skewing negatively.

The 6.125% notes (NYSE: CTY) were down 9 cents to $25.03 on volume of about 70,000 notes.

The 6.5% notes (NYSE: CTBB) were shaving off 1 cent to $25.48 on volume of about 29,000 shares.

Meanwhile, in the finance space, Wells Fargo & Co.’s 4.75% series Z non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock was picking up steam.

The preferreds (NYSE: WFCPrZ) were gaining 6 cents to $25.03 with about 55,000 shares trading.

Sector peer Bank of America Corp.’s 5% series LL non-cumulative preferred stock was relatively active but unchanged so far.

The preferreds (NYSE: BACPrN) were holding level at $26.52 on volume of about 32,000 shares.

Citigroup, Inc.’s 7.125% series J fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative preferred stock was being lifted.

The preferreds (NYSE: CPrJ) were tacking on 6 cents to $28.97 with about 24,000 shares trading.

Elsewhere, shipping company Triton International Ltd.’s 7.375% series C cumulative redeemable perpetual preference shares were getting a boost.

The preferreds (NYSE: TRTNPrC) were adding 18 cents to $25.16 on volume of about 43,000 shares.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.