Crown Cork & Seal saw its 6.75% notes of December '03 drop seven points to 78 on news of the postponement of its planned initial public offering of its Constar subsidiary. Constar also has a high-yield deal on the calendar, but it is also believed to on hold. Officials at Salomon Smith Barney, the underwriter, could not be reached by press time.
The company has $600 million in public debt maturing by December of next year, and Frank Colombo, a distressed securities analyst, believes it still has a few options available, including the possibility that the IPO market will reopen. He believes the company has enough liquidity to make payments on public debt maturing this year. Its December 6.75% notes of '03 are fairly valued at 78, its April 6.75% notes of '03s are a few points overvalued at 84 and its 7% notes of '06 are one or two points cheap at 68, he says.