Mid-Winter Thaw?

February 11, 2008

Last week was the first full week back from the private placement conference in Boca Raton, Fla., and the market seemed to open up a bit. At least two deals priced, and as of Friday there were at least four live private placements in the market. So, is the private market getting back to normal? Has this ended—at least temporarily—the period of erratic and sparse issuance that set in around late November? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Though there was a noticeable pick-up in activity last week, most investors still referred to the market as “slow.” On a closer look at the week’s activity, we see that two of the deals in the news were 144A no-reg deals for Indian tribes, Agua Caliente and Seminole; one was a structured deal with an NAIC-3 type tranche, Reliance Home Comfort; and one was a New Zealand finance company that appeared back in the market after having disappeared from view sometime late last year, South Canterbury Finance Group Ltd. Basically, there was something for everyone, but perhaps not enough in the traditional, corporate private space for investors to classify the market as “busy” or even “active” yet.

Still, it all depends on who you ask. “Where you stand depends on where you sit,” goes the old saying. From where I sit, last week was a welcome interlude of activity in what has been an otherwise choppy market.