Harris meets demand for acquisition financing; IBRD, Citi also price; spreads mostly flat

By Aleesia Forni

Virginia Beach, April 22 – Investment-grade new issues saw a strong reception from investors again on Wednesday, as $12.75 billion of paper hit the tape.

A $2.4 billion trade from Harris Corp. was a highlight of the day’s primary activity, with the deal grabbing more than $16 billion of orders.

The company plans to use proceeds to finance its acquisition of Exelis Inc.

Also on Wednesday, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and Citigroup Inc. were in the market with $5 billion new issues, respectively, priced at the tight end of price guidance.

World Bank sold a new three-year offering, while Citigroup priced its issue of senior notes in three parts due 2017 and 2025.

Blackstone Holdings Finance Co. LLC priced $350 million of 30-year senior notes around 15 basis points tight of initial price talk during the session, attracting an order book that was more than 4.5 times oversubscribed.

Meantime, investment-grade bond spreads were largely unchanged to modestly tighter on the day overall, a market source said.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade series 23 index was 1 bps tighter at a spread of 61 bps.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.