Griffon’s upsized add-on caps nearly $6.9 billion week; new Cheniere bonds dominate actives

By Paul Deckelman and Paul A. Harris

New York, May 13 – It was Friday the 13th and only one issuer was feeling lucky enough to buck a generally more negative market and price a new junk bond issue.

Griffon Corp., a New York-based maker of building products, tools, communications equipment and plastics, did an upsized quick-to-market add-on to its existing $600 million of 2022 bonds.

That deal pushed the week’s new-issuance total to $6.87 billion in 12 tranches, up from the $3.77 billion of new dollar-denominated and fully junk rated paper that had priced in six tranches last week, according to data compiled by Prospect News.

That weekly total, in turn brought year-to-date junk bond issuance by domestic or industrial-country borrowers up to $73.56 billion in 99 tranches, although that was still running some 47.6% behind the new-deal pace set last year, when $140.43 billion of new notes had priced in 218 tranches by this time on the 2015 calendar, according to the data.

Traders did not report any immediate aftermarket in the Griffon issue.

However, they saw considerable action in several other newly priced bonds.

Liquefied natural gas company Cheniere Energy, Inc.’s new eight-year secured issue, which came to market on Thursday, was easily the busiest credit of the day, trading off a little from the highs it had hit in initial dealings following its pricing.

Statistical market performance measures turned lower across the board on Friday, after having been higher all around on Thursday and mixed on Wednesday. Counting four straight lower sessions last week, Friday was the fifth lower session in the last nine trading days.

© 2015 Prospect News.
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