AGNC to offer preferreds; Air Lease’s new preferreds above par; National General gains

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Feb. 27 – Rumblings in the primary preferred market accented a positive day in secondary activity.

AGNC Investment Corp. plans to price an offering of $25-par series D fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock.

In its first trading day, Air Lease Corp.’s new $250 million 6.15% series A fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock closed above par.

Elsewhere, insurer National General Holdings Corp.’s 7.5% series C non-cumulative preferred stock saw a boost.

In the finance space, People’s United Financial, Inc.’s 5.625% series A fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds were also positive.

Sector peer JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s 6% series EE and 5.75% series DD non-cumulative preferred stock followed the upward trend.

Communications name Qwest Corp.’s 6.75% notes due 2057 gained.

AGNC preps offering

In the primary space, AGNC plans to price an offering of $25-par series D fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, UBS Securities LLC and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. are the joint bookrunning managers.

The preferreds are redeemable on or after April 15, 2024 at par. Prior to that, they are redeemable within 120 days after a change-of-control event.

The dividend is fixed until April 15, 2024, then converts to a floating rate of Libor plus a spread.

Air Lease over par

On its first day of trading, Air Lease’s new $250 million 6.15% series A fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock ended the session above par.

The preferreds, trading under the temporary symbol “ALSCP,” were spotted closing at $25.23 on volume of about 2 million shares.

The deal priced on Tuesday.

National General rises

In the insurance sector, National General’s 7.5% series C non-cumulative preferred stock saw a boost in Wednesday’s activity.

The preferreds (Nasdaq: NGHCN) picked up 47 cents to close at $21.45 with about 906,000 shares trading.

On Monday, the company declared a preferred stock dividend payable on April 15 to shareholders of record by April 1.

People’s United gains

Elsewhere, in the finance space, People’s United’s 5.625% series A fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative perpetual preferreds were also positive.

The preferreds (Nasdaq: PBCTP) gained 2 cents to close at $24.09 on volume of about 626,000 shares.

Sector peer JPMorgan’s 6% series EE and 5.75% series DD non-cumulative preferred stock both followed the market’s upward trend.

The series EE preferreds (NYSE: JPMPrC) added 3 cents to close at $26.11 with about 446,000 shares trading.

The series DD preferreds (NYSE: JPMPrD) rose 15 cents to close at $25.65 with about 364,000 shares trading.

Qwest higher

Meanwhile, communications name Qwest’s 6.75% notes due 2057 gained by the end of the session.

The notes (NYSE: CTDD) garnered 8 cents to close at $23.80 on volume of about 234,000 notes.

Indexes up

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index was up 0.14% at the close, pushing past a 0.06% gain from Wednesday early trading.

The iShares US Preferred Stock ETF was up 5 cents to $36.20.

© 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.