Morning Commentary: Brighthouse, Monroe tap market; B. Riley, QVC prepare offerings

By James McCandless

San Antonio, Sept. 6 – Brighthouse Financial, Inc. and Monroe Capital Corp. tapped the market for $25-par securities while other others lined up on Thursday with new offerings.

Brighthouse Financial sold $375 million of $25-par junior subordinated debentures due 2058 (Ba1/BBB-/BB+) at par with a coupon at 6.25%.

The deal was announced Wednesday morning.

There is a $56.25 million greenshoe.

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

Meanwhile, Monroe Capital priced $60 million of $25-par notes due 2023 at par with a coupon of 5.75% on Wednesday.

There is a $9 million greenshoe

Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., BB&T Capital Markets, LLC, and Janney Montgomery Scott LLC are the joint bookrunners.

B. Riley Financial, Inc. plans to price a $50 million offering of $25-par senior notes (A-) due Sept. 30, 2023 with a coupon of 6.875% to 7%.

There is a $7.5 million greenshoe.

B. Riley FBR, Janney Montgomery Scott, Ladenburg Thalmann and Incapital are the joint bookrunners.

Also, QVC, Inc. plans to sell $25-par senior secured notes due Sept. 13, 2067.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, UBS Securities and Wells Fargo are the joint bookrunners.

In the secondary market, Qwest Corp.’s $25-par notes were mixed in early trading. The notes have been heavily traded since Aug. 20, when a redemption notice was issued 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 down 8 cents to $24.75 on volume of about 297,000 notes.

The 6.5% notes due 2056 (NYSE: CTBB) were down 17 cents to $23.77 on volume of about 176,000 notes.

The 6.125% notes due 2053 (NYSE: CTY) were up 6 cents to $23.52 on volume of about 110,000 notes.

Wells Fargo & Co.’s 6.625% series R fixed-to-floating rate non-cumulative perpetual class A preferred stock was also declining in early secondary activity.

The preferreds (NYSE: WFCPrR) were down 8 cents to $27.40 with about 281,000 shares trading.

The Wells Fargo Hybrid & Preferred Securities Financial index was down 0.24% in early trading, continuing to trend downward after a sharp 0.25% decline at market close on Wednesday.

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