January 4, 2012

Have we seen this movie before? Esoteric assets are being securitized in volume:

Sales of bonds backed by everything from timeshare rentals to shipping containers to entertainment royalties are poised to rise this year as investors seek to boost returns with interest rates at about record lows.

So-called esoteric asset-backed securities issuance may soar 12.9 percent to $35 billion, compared with debt linked to more traditional collateral such as auto and credit-card loans, which will grow 8.75 percent to $87 billion, according to a forecast from Credit Suisse Group AG.

Investors willing to hold BBB rated bonds backed by franchise royalty fees of the Sonic Corp. (SONC) fast- food chain may receive as much as 2 percentage points more annually than similarly rated securities tied to auto loans, according to Barclays Capital’s Cory Wishengrad in New York.

Cronos Containers Ltd. boosted the size of its November offering of bonds tied to shipping container lease payments by $50 million to $200 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. An A rated $170 million portion maturing in five years priced to yield 5 percent.

It was quite a good day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualDiscounts – what are left of them! – winning 53bp, FixedResets up 9bp and DeemedRetractibles gaining 19bp. Floating Rate issues also appear to be celebrating the new year. Good volatility – all winners! Volume was quite low, but better than the comatose levels of the last week.

PerpetualDiscounts now yield 5.08%, equivalent to 6.60% interest at the standard conversion factor of 1.4x. 1.3x. Long corporates now yield about 4.65%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (also called the Seniority Spread) is now about 195bp, significantly narrower than the 205bp reported December 30.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 1.1234 % 2,169.8
FixedFloater 4.80 % 4.54 % 36,535 17.14 1 1.0204 % 3,211.9
Floater 3.07 % 3.34 % 67,638 18.94 3 1.1234 % 2,342.9
OpRet 5.00 % 1.34 % 65,635 1.36 7 0.4228 % 2,471.8
SplitShare 5.44 % 1.71 % 70,190 0.93 4 0.0924 % 2,573.1
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.4228 % 2,260.2
Perpetual-Premium 5.41 % -6.07 % 85,510 0.09 23 0.2211 % 2,199.4
Perpetual-Discount 5.15 % 5.08 % 142,236 15.29 7 0.5343 % 2,348.5
FixedReset 5.08 % 2.87 % 201,174 2.39 64 0.0872 % 2,360.9
Deemed-Retractible 4.98 % 3.69 % 183,734 1.89 46 0.1922 % 2,260.7
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
BAM.PR.G FixedFloater 1.02 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-01-04
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 19.80
Bid-YTW : 4.54 %
MFC.PR.B Deemed-Retractible 1.05 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.09
Bid-YTW : 6.29 %
BAM.PR.B Floater 1.09 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-01-04
Maturity Price : 15.81
Evaluated at bid price : 15.81
Bid-YTW : 3.34 %
SLF.PR.E Deemed-Retractible 1.14 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 21.34
Bid-YTW : 6.55 %
MFC.PR.C Deemed-Retractible 1.40 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 21.71
Bid-YTW : 6.35 %
POW.PR.D Perpetual-Discount 1.50 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-01-04
Maturity Price : 24.49
Evaluated at bid price : 24.97
Bid-YTW : 5.00 %
BAM.PR.I OpRet 1.92 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-02-03
Maturity Price : 25.25
Evaluated at bid price : 25.50
Bid-YTW : -5.75 %
BAM.PR.K Floater 2.61 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-01-04
Maturity Price : 15.75
Evaluated at bid price : 15.75
Bid-YTW : 3.35 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
GWO.PR.M Deemed-Retractible 233,800 Nesbitt crossed blocks of 185,000 and 25,000, both at 25.60.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.60
Bid-YTW : 5.53 %
CM.PR.I Deemed-Retractible 90,330 RBC crossed 29,300 at 25.95.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.75
Evaluated at bid price : 25.95
Bid-YTW : 3.51 %
CM.PR.L FixedReset 54,069 Nesbitt crossed 50,000 at 27.35.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-04-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.35
Bid-YTW : 2.13 %
BNS.PR.T FixedReset 52,980 Nesbitt crossed 50,000 at 27.15.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-04-25
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 27.11
Bid-YTW : 2.27 %
BAM.PR.O OpRet 35,400 RBC crossed blocks of 20,000 and 15,000 at 25.50.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Option Certainty
Maturity Date : 2013-06-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.50
Bid-YTW : 3.66 %
SLF.PR.G FixedReset 33,837 RBC crossed 30,000 at 22.55.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 22.47
Bid-YTW : 4.61 %
There were 18 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
PWF.PR.H Perpetual-Premium Quote: 25.55 – 26.88
Spot Rate : 1.3300
Average : 0.7773

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-02-03
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.55
Bid-YTW : -8.57 %

TCA.PR.Y Perpetual-Premium Quote: 52.65 – 53.94
Spot Rate : 1.2900
Average : 0.8248

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-03-05
Maturity Price : 50.00
Evaluated at bid price : 52.65
Bid-YTW : 2.87 %

FTS.PR.C OpRet Quote: 25.90 – 26.47
Spot Rate : 0.5700
Average : 0.3518

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-02-03
Maturity Price : 25.50
Evaluated at bid price : 25.90
Bid-YTW : -7.46 %

GWO.PR.L Deemed-Retractible Quote: 25.91 – 26.50
Spot Rate : 0.5900
Average : 0.3948

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2018-12-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.91
Bid-YTW : 5.07 %

BMO.PR.K Deemed-Retractible Quote: 26.47 – 26.98
Spot Rate : 0.5100
Average : 0.3468

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-11-25
Maturity Price : 26.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.47
Bid-YTW : 3.63 %

CIU.PR.A Perpetual-Discount Quote: 24.50 – 25.18
Spot Rate : 0.6800
Average : 0.5168

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Limit Maturity
Maturity Date : 2042-01-04
Maturity Price : 24.22
Evaluated at bid price : 24.50
Bid-YTW : 4.73 %

5 Responses to “January 4, 2012”

  1. adrian2 says:

    Isn’t “the standard conversion factor” still 1.3x ?

  2. like_to_retire says:

    I was just about to post the same question adrian2.

    I look back in PreLetter and see the change to 1.3x was made back in March 2011.

    Perhaps James had a brain freeze…….

  3. jiHymas says:

    Whoopsy!

    I actually multiplied by 1.3, but wrote down 1.4. Geez, I was so proud of myself for putting the right year on the title, I forgot that other elements of accuracy are also desirable.

    I’ve fixed the post.

  4. dudsy says:

    Hi James,

    Any comments on the BAM split annual report, especially the newly created Junior Preferred shares? Thanks.

  5. […] PerpetualDiscounts now yield 4.86%, equivalent to 6.32% interest at the standard equivalency factor of 1.3x. Long corporates now yield about 4.6%, so the pre-tax interest-equivalent spread (in this context, the “Seniority Spread”) now stands at about 170bp, a sharp decline from the 195bp reported January 4. […]

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