Coca-Cola, Noble Energy upsize deals due to demand; new bonds firm; Viacom notes widen

By Andrea Heisinger and Cristal Cody

New York, Feb. 15 - Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., Noble Energy, Inc. and Toyota Motor Credit Corp. did trades on Tuesday as the primary market remained active.

The first sale to price was Coca-Cola Enterprises. The company at first said it would sell $300 million of 10-year notes but then added a $100 million tranche of three-year floating-rate notes. This was due to interest from accounts after the idea was floated, a source said, and both notes priced in line with or at the tight end of guidance.

Houston-based Noble Energy increased its deal size to $850 million of 30-year bonds from $750 million.

A small offering of two-year floating-rate notes came from Toyota Motor Credit. The financing arm of the automaker priced $100 million of the notes.

Tuesday was not expected to be a blockbuster day for issuance, sources said.

"Most of the big ones [deals] came yesterday," a source said. She added, "I was glad to have anything in the market."

Sources at a few syndicate desks said they didn't have any deals for Wednesday or perhaps the remainder of the week.

"I think it's going to be pretty quiet," one source said. "I've said that before, though, and been wrong. I just haven't heard of anything."

In the secondary market, Coca-Cola's notes traded about 3 basis points tighter, traders said.

Noble Energy's bonds firmed about 4 bps on the bid side.

But Viacom Inc.'s new senior notes due 2021 widened on the bid side in trading on Tuesday, sources said.

Also weaker, the Markit CDX Series 14 North American investment-grade index eased 1 bp to a spread of 81 bps, according to Markit Group Ltd.

Overall investment-grade Trace volume rose to more than $13.5 billion, up from nearly $11 billion the previous day, a market source said.

Treasuries were mostly flat, with the shorter end of the curve up on Tuesday, as the market digested another round of data that included lower-than-expected retail sales.

The 10-year note yield dropped 2 bps to 3.6%. The 30-year bond yield fell 1 bp to 4.66%.

"The market was very quiet today," said Nick Kalivas, a market strategist at MF Global Holdings Ltd. "There seems to be a kind of lack of direction, which is a little bit surprising given all the data we had. The market is really pretty range bound."

Coca-Cola upsizes deal

Coca-Cola Enterprises priced an upsized $400 million of senior notes (A3/BBB/BBB+) in two parts early in the afternoon, a source who worked on the trade said.

The company was at first only wanting to price $300 million, but it added a tranche of floating-rate notes after some reverse inquiry.

"The company was pretty firm on the size at first, but then we went out with doing $100 million [of floaters]. They came back and said do it if it comes in at 30 [bps over Libor]. We went out to see if people cared, and accounts came back and said they cared."

The pricing was "pretty aggressive" on the floaters and based on outstanding notes from the company.

There was about $2 billion on the books for the 10-year notes, the source said, and maybe $150 million for the floaters.

That $100 million of three-year floaters sold at par to yield Libor plus 30 bps. They were talked in the Libor plus 30 bps area.

A second part was $300 million of 4.5% 10-year notes priced at a spread of Treasuries plus 93 bps. They priced at the tight end of guidance in the 95 bps area.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. were the bookrunners.

Proceeds are being used for general corporate purposes, including share repurchases and commercial paper refinancing.

Coca-Cola's notes due 2021 were seen trading early Tuesday at 90 bps bid, 88 bps offered, a trader said.

Another trader saw the 10-year notes later in the day at 90 bps bid, 89 bps offered.

No secondary market activity was seen in the floating-rate notes.

The marketer, distributor and producer of Coca-Cola products is based in Atlanta.

Noble prices $850 million

Noble Energy sold an upsized $850 million of 6% 30-year senior bonds (Baa2/BBB) at a spread of 137.5 bps over Treasuries, said a source who helped sell the deal.

The size was increased from $750 million, the source said.

Active bookrunners were Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays Capital Inc.

Proceeds are being used to repay $470 million of outstanding debt under a revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes.

Noble Energy's new bonds due 2041 traded tighter in the secondary market, traders said. The notes were seen trading at 133 bps bid, 131 bps offered.

The crude oil and natural gas exploration and production company is based in Houston.

Toyota Motor Credit sells

Toyota Motor Credit sold $100 million of two-year medium-term floating-rate notes, series B, on Tuesday at par to yield prime rate minus 265 bps, according to an FWP filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Interest is payable quarterly, and the notes (Aa2/AA) are non-callable.

Citigroup was the agent.

The U.S. financing arm of Toyota Financial Services is based in Torrance, Calif.

Viacom wider

Viacom sold $500 million of 4.5% 10-year senior notes (Baa1/BBB+) at a spread of Treasuries plus 110 bps on Monday.

Early Tuesday, a trader saw the notes at 111 bps bid, 110 bps offered. Later in the day, another source saw the notes wider at 115 bps bid, 110 bps offered.

The entertainment company is based in New York.

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