Morning Commentary: Early convertibles trading focused on new NICE, Liberty deals

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Aug. 25 – Convertibles traders were focused on two new deals in the market on Tuesday including Liberty Broadband Corp.’s new, upsized $500 million of 2.75% senior debentures exchangeable for Charter Communications, Inc. common stock, and NICE Ltd.’s new $400 million of 0% convertible senior notes due 2025.

Those two deals “are where the action is,” a New York-based market source said. “It’s pretty quiet otherwise.”

The new Liberty paper is exchangeable for Charter shares, which were lower in the early going and last down about 1% at $606.48.

Shares of NICE bounced higher at the open however and were last up $6.78, or 3%, at $224.36.

Trading aside from the new issues was light, and pricing wasn’t tracking in step with moves in the underlying stocks. Etsy Inc.’s 0.125% convertibles due 2026 printed up 0.3 point to 102.93 despite shares pulling lower by nearly 2% by late morning to $126.32.

American Airlines’ 0.5% convertibles due 2025 traded up nearly a point at 98.9 despite lower shares as well.

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