Limited deal flow seen for rest of August; Qwest notes firm; OM Asset notes list on NYSE

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, Aug. 19 – The preferred stock market was subdued in early Friday trading, according to a trader, but picked up a bit by the bell.

A trader also noted that the new issue pipeline appeared to be shuttered for the time being.

“I heard there aren’t going to be any more new deals for the rest of the month,” the trader said. However, he added that the buzz is that September’s calendar was shaping up nicely.

Among recently priced deals, Qwest Corp.’s $977.5 million of 6.5% $25-par senior notes due Sept. 1, 2056 continued to trade well, with a trader quoting the issue at $25.53 bid, $25.62 offered at mid-morning.

Qwest brought the $850 million offering on Aug. 11. On Wednesday, the company said its $127.5 million greenshoe had been fully exercised.

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

Medley LLC’s $25 million of 6.875% $25-par unsecured notes due 2026 (NYSE: MDLX) was rebounding a tad from the weakness seen since the notes listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, a trader reported.

“They are probably at the point where people will start stepping back in,” a trader said, noting that the paper was cheap at $24.13.

The notes ended the day at $24.12, up a penny.

The trader said investors could return to the name, given the projected lack of new issues in the coming weeks.

In other new listings, OM Asset Management plc’s $125 million of 15-year $25-par senior notes due 2031 began trading on the NYSE on Friday.

The ticker is “OMAA.” The deal priced July 27.

The notes were trading at $25.13 at mid-morning, closing at $25.20. That compared to levels around par at the open.

Goldman comes in

Among more established issues, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s 6.375% series K fixed-to-floating rate noncumulative perpetual preferreds (NYSE: GSPK) and floating rate series D noncumulative preferreds (NYSE: GSPD) were quite active but lower on the day.

There was no fresh news out to push the paper lower, though the preferred market as a whole was down 10 basis points, according to the Wells Fargo Hybrid and Preferred Securities index.

The series K preferreds traded down 6 cents to $28.86, on more than 1 million shares being exchanged. Over 705,000 shares of the series D paper moved, falling 15 cents to $21.96.

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