Banco Espirito of Portugal offers preferred.

NEW YORK -- Banco Espirito Santo e Comercial de Lisboa of Portugal on Tuesday began marketing a $100 million issue of preferred stock in the U.S. market, according to market sources. The issue of noncumulative preferred stock by a wholly owned subsidiary, Espirito Santo Overseas Ltd., has a proposed dividend of 8.25%. The issue is expected to be priced late this week or early next week.

Merrill Lynch & Co. is lead underwriter of the issue and Bear Steams & Co. and Smith Barney Shearson are co-managers. The preferred stock is rated Baa1 by Moody's Investors Service and BBB by Standard & Poor's Corp.

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