Voya prices preferreds; Qwest’s $25-par notes continue to rise; Bank of America slips

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Sept. 5 – The preferred market saw another broad decline in the secondary space on Wednesday while in the primary a new issue priced.

Voya Financial, Inc. priced $325 million of $1,000-par 6.125% series A fixed-rate reset non-cumulative preferred stock.

Qwest Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of CenturyLink, Inc., saw its $25-par notes improve, continuing an upward trend.

Bank of America Corp.’s 5.875% series HH non-cumulative preferred stock declined slightly.

Energy Transfer Partners, LP’s 7.625% series D fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred units fell.

Voya prices

Voya priced $325 million of $1,000-par series A fixed-rate reset non-cumulative preferred stock with an initial dividend of 6.125% after announcing the deal Tuesday morning.

There is no greenshoe.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets LLC, BNP Paribas Securities Corp. and PNC Capital Markets LLC are the joint bookrunners.

Qwest improves

Qwest’s $25-par notes gained again, leading secondary trading. The notes have been making significant gains since Aug. 20, when the company issued a redemption notice for $1.34 billion in total of its 7.5% notes due 2051, two series of 7% notes due 2052 and 7.25% debentures due 2035.

Qwest’s existing 6.75% notes due 2057 (NYSE: CTDD) were up 23 cents to close at $24.83 on volume of about 547,000 notes.

The 6.125% notes due 2053 (NYSE: CTY) were up 53 cents to close at $23.46 on volume of about 375,000 notes.

The 6.5% notes due 2056 (NYSE: CTBB) were up 40 cents to close at $23.94 on volume of about 362,000 notes.

On Tuesday, the 6.125% notes gained 36 cents and the 6.5% notes rose 6 cents.

Bank of America declines

Bank of America’s 5.875% series HH non-cumulative preferred stock fell slightly on increased trading.

The preferreds (NYSE: BACPrK) were down 1 cent to close at $25.57 with about 277,000 shares trading.

Energy Transfer lower

Energy Transfer’s 7.625% series D fixed-to-floating rate perpetual preferred units also declined in secondary activity.

The preferreds (NYSE: ETPPrD) were down 9 cents to close at $25.93 on volume of about 251,000 shares.

Indexes down

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index was down 0.25% at market close, more than doubling the 0.11% drop seen in early trading on Wednesday.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF was down 17 cents to $37.33.

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