Fiat Chrysler, Murray deals lead $6.6 billion primary; Halcon up; funds gain $1.35 billion

By Paul A. Harris and Paul Deckelman

New York, April 9 – The high-yield primary market saw one of its busiest days of the year on Thursday, with $6.6 billion of new dollar-denominated, fully junk-rated paper seen having come to market in nine tranches.

Total deal volume was topped only by the $8.75 billion of such paper that got done in four tranches back on March 13 – although almost all of that issuance was attributable to just one deal, a giant-sized dollar/euro offering from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.

In contrast, Thursday’s activity was spread over eight separate issuers, with only one, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, having as many as two tranches. Its $3 billion deal, split into equally sized tranches of five- and eight- year notes, came as a regularly scheduled forward calendar offering.

So was the day’s other megadeal-sized offering, Murray Energy Corp.’s downsized $1.3 billion offering of six-year secured notes.

Traders saw some initial aftermarket dealings in the new issues from Fiat Chrysler, Murray Energy, ExamWorks Group Inc. and HRG Group Inc., with all of the bonds being generally quoted up modestly from their respective issue prices.

Away from the new deals, Halcon Resources Corp.’s 2020 notes jumped in heavy trading on the news that the energy company had entered into an agreement with the holders of some of those notes, giving them stock in exchange for their paper.

High-yield mutual funds and exchange-traded funds saw their third consecutive weekly inflow, a $1.35 billion cash surge.

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