Staley said it had replaced the offering with a more expensive convertible preferred issue.

The user has specified a preferred issue which is not in the valid format.

The periodic auctions keep the price of the preferred issues from dropping much below face value.

The preferred issue is convertible under various circumstances, such as additional equity offerings by the company or a merger.

Most new preferred issues carry five years of protection against call.

If a company goes bankrupt, its preferred issues could become virtually worthless.

In normal circumstances, the preferred issues would never have been redeemed.

The preferred issues now pay a total of $33.5 million in annual dividends.

Efforts to sell more of the preferred issue are continuing.

Doing so cut the cost of capital for the company, since the preferred issues paid rates as high as 12.5 percent.