Banker Washington Federal (WAFD) has priced the previously announced preferred shares.
The issue prices at 4.875%–and they managed to garner a Moody’s rating of Baa3 (investment grade). The issue is non-cumulative and qualified.
They have sold 12 million shares which is a very large issue for a pretty small bank company–$19 billion in assets.
Shares will trade immediately on the OTC grey market under ticker WSHAP.
The pricing term sheet can be read here.
In the use of proceeds section of the prospectus WAFD states they will use the money raised by this offering for general corporate purposes, and I quote, “which may include repurchases of our common stock. ” I assume the operative word here is “may” since they are issuing preferred stock paying $1.219/shr to retire common stock that pays .92/shr dividend. The inner workings of corporate finance continue to confuse and amaze me.
A question for the scholars — what is the difference between a Joint Book-Running Manager, a Joint Lead Manager, and a Co-Manager?
imho the only thing that matters and is truly coveted is running the books. .. the other terms are matters of prestige, allotments and who the issuer wants to reward…. least that’s all it used to mean back in the Stone Age in muni-land anyway…