Midday Commentary: New Charter bonds up slightly in early dealings; Wind holds Friday levels

By Paul Deckelman

New York, April 22 - Charter Communications Inc.'s new $1 billion bond deal was seen by high-yield traders to have firmed slightly in early dealings on Monday morning.

One trader quoted those 5¾% notes due 2024 at 100¼ bid, 100¾ offered.

A second pegged the bonds at 100½ bid, 100¾ offered.

A third said the bonds were trading into a 100¼ bid, after having been in a 100¼ to 100½ bid range earlier.

Charter, a Stamford, Conn.-based provider of cable television, phone and broadband service - the company moved to Stamford late last year from its longtime base in St. Louis - priced its drive-by megadeal at par on Friday afternoon, but it came too late in the day for any aftermarket dealings at that time.

The company is issuing the bonds through its COO Holdings, LLC and COO Holdings Capital Corp. subsidiaries, planning to use the proceeds to redeem its 7 7/8% notes due 2018 and for general corporate purposes.

Elsewhere, a trader said, Wind Acquisition Finance SA's new 6½% senior secured notes due 2020 were opening at 102 3/8 bid, 102¾ offered, a trader said, "but I'm not being posted on any trades taking place in the Street."

A second trader said the new Wind bonds were basically trading between 102½ and 102¾ bid and were "not very active."

The company - a unit of Italian telecommunications operator Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA - priced $550 million of the notes on Friday at par after upsizing the issue from $400 million initially. The bonds were quoted bid at 102¼ late Friday but with no right side immediately seen.

It was part of a quick-to-market, two-part, dual currency deal that also included €150 million senior secured floating-rate notes due 2019, which priced to yield 525 basis points over Libor.

Overall, a trader noted that "the existing home sales number [that came out on Monday morning] knocked stocks down, but we did not follow."

The KDP High Yield Daily index stood at 75.66 at mid-morning, unchanged from its late-Friday level, yielding 5.43%, also unchanged from Friday.

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