World Bank, Guardian Life price; Fannie Mae markets notes; bank, financial paper mixed

By Cristal Cody

Eureka Springs, Ark., Oct. 20 – High-grade primary market volume included two bond deals on Thursday with market sources expecting the week ahead to see heavy supply.

World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) priced $4.25 billion of global benchmark bonds in two tranches.

“The 10-year benchmark bond marks our successful return to the long end of the curve, since our last one in over a year,” Arunma Oteh, vice president and treasurer at World Bank, said in a news release.

The bank sold $3 billion of three-year bonds and $1.25 billion of 10-year bonds.

The deal had a combined order book of more than $6 billion with more than 100 investors participating, Philip Brown, head of public sector capital markets at joint lead manager Citigroup Global Markets Inc., said in the release.

“The ability of the World Bank to raise sizable volume in the USD market has almost become the norm in recent years,” Jamie Stirling, head of SSA DCM at joint bookrunner BNP Paribas Securities Corp., said in the release. “However the Treasury’s continuous strategy of targeting issuance to appeal to current investor demand is well illustrated in this transaction as the World Bank team was able to price both the three-year and 10-year tranches flat to the World Bank’s curve.”

In other supply on Thursday, Guardian Life Global Funding sold $300 million of five-year notes.

Also, Fannie Mae announced plans to price an offering of three-year Benchmark Notes.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index closed mostly unchanged at a spread of 74 basis points.

Bank and financial paper was mixed in secondary trading over the day, a source said.

Wells Fargo & Co.’s 3% senior notes due 2026 that priced on Wednesday traded about 10 bps better than issuance earlier.

Bank of America Corp.’s 3.248% senior notes due 2026 that priced on Tuesday traded flat to 1 bp tighter.

World Bank taps market

World Bank (Aaa/AAA) announced on Thursday that it priced $4.25 billion of global benchmark bonds in two tranches.

The bank sold $3 billion of 1.125% three-year bonds at 99.789 to yield 1.195%, or 22.7 bps over Treasuries.

World Bank priced $1.25 billion of 1.875% 10-year bonds at 99.097 to yield 1.975%, or 23.3 bps over Treasuries.

The three-year book closed with investor orders of more than $4.3 billion, while the 10-year book closed with more than $2.3 billion of investor orders, the release said.

BofA Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Citigroup and Nomura Securities International, Inc. were the lead managers.

The global development financing cooperative is based in Washington, D.C.

Guardian Life prints

Guardian Life Global Funding sold $300 million of 1.95% five-year notes with a spread of 72 bps over Treasuries on Thursday, a market source said.

The notes (Aa2/AA+) priced on the tight side of guidance.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC were the lead managers.

Guardian Life Global Funding is a financing arm of New York City-based Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.

Fannie Mae offers notes

Fannie Mae plans to price an offering of three-year Benchmark Notes, according to a news release on Thursday.

The notes are due Oct. 24, 2019.

Barclays, JPMorgan and Nomura are the lead managers. The co-managers include Academy Securities Inc., Guzman & Co., Samuel A. Ramirez & Co. and Stern Brothers & Co.

The deal is expected to close on Tuesday.

Fannie Mae is a mortgage credit provider based in Washington, D.C.

Wells Fargo tightens

Wells Fargo’s 3% senior notes due 2026 traded better earlier on Thursday at 120 bps offered in secondary trading, a market source said.

Wells Fargo priced $3.5 billion of the 10-year notes (A2/A/AA-) on Wednesday at a spread of 130 bps over Treasuries.

The retail, commercial and corporate banking services provider is based in San Francisco.

Bank of America firms

Bank of America’s 3.248% notes due 2027 were seen flat to 1 bp tighter at 144 bps offered in the secondary market, a source said.

The bank sold $2.5 billion of the notes (Baa1/BBB+/A) on Tuesday at a spread of 150 bps over Treasuries.

The financial services company is based in Charlotte, N.C.

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