Entergy New Orleans sells $25-par first mortgage bonds; Huntington not free to trade

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, March 15 – Entergy New Orleans Inc. kept the preferred stock market deal flow going on Tuesday, pricing a $110 million offering of 5.5% $25-par first mortgage bonds due 2066.

Price talk was initially around 5.625%, according to a market source, but was revised to 5.5%.

Post-pricing, a source saw the issue offered at $25.16. The source noted that the deal did well.

“But then again, utilities usually do,” he said, given there are so few utility issues in the preferred market. It also helped that the deal was on the smaller side, forcing investors to push up the price in order to get involved.

Earlier in the day, a trader saw the issue at $24.80 bid in the gray market.

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

The company plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt.

Meanwhile, recently priced deals continued to keep investors busy.

Huntington Bancshares Inc.’s $350 million of 6.25% series D noncumulative perpetual preferreds freed around late morning, according to one source.

That source placed the issue at $24.89, flat day over day. The Columbus, Ohio-based bank’s new issue was also deemed the most active of the day, with over 4.2 million shares being exchanged.

A trader had pegged the issue at $24.65 bid, $24.72 offered in early trading.

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