Prudential Financial this week issued a $1.0 billion bond to sell vintage subprime mortgage-backed securities. Analysts described the bond as a hybrid between an MBS and a covered bond. Standard & Poor’s gave Prudential Covered Trust 2012-1 an A rating, which was based on the rating of Prudential, not of the subprime MBS being sold. The bond was sold as a private placement and Prudential has not commented on the sale. However, in its recently released annual report for 2011, Prudential said it had transferred some of its subprime MBS holdings ...