Campbell Soup, Credit Suisse branch sell bonds, KfW reopens; week ahead top heavy; Merck eyed

By Andrea Heisinger

New York, June 26 - New issues in the high-grade bond market were sparse but present Friday, with sales from Campbell Soup Co., Credit Suisse through its New York branch and a reopening from Germany's KfW.

These deals concluded a week with consistent issuance, although there was more at the beginning of the week.

Although the deals priced in time to make it to trading, secondary levels were not available.

A recent bond from Merck & Co. - part of a four-tranche mega-deal priced Monday - was popular with investors earlier in the day.

Spreads were unchanged, in general, as Treasury yields hardly moved, a source said. The five-year note tightened 3 basis points, to yield 2.55% while both the 10-year note and 30-year bond held steady from their previous levels. The 10-year was at 3.53% while the 30-year came in at 4.33%.

Campbell Soup sells $300 million

Campbell Soup priced $300 million 3.375% five-year notes at Treasuries plus 87.5 bps.

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and UBS Investment Bank ran the books.

Proceeds will go to repay commercial paper borrowings and for general corporate purposes.

The food products company is based in Camden, N.J.

Credit Suisse unit offers bonds

Credit Suisse's New York branch priced $1.3 billion of 3.45% three-year senior notes at Treasuries plus 190 bps, an informed source said.

Credit Suisse was the bookrunner.

The issuer is a unit of Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group.

Dull market to end week

There were a handful of deals coming into the market Friday, but it couldn't save the day from being boring, a source said.

"They all got done early," he said. "They weren't exciting. It was just not a very exciting day."

The tone was "OK," he added; it didn't make much difference due to the lack of offerings waiting to price.

"It was top-heavy," he said of the week. "We had Merck and then it quieted down."

The $4.25 billion sale from Merck on Monday was not the largest of the week - that came from Citigroup with $5 billion in bonds backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"That doesn't really count," a source said of the Citigroup deal. "All of the others [for the week] were small."

The coming week is not expected to be much less dull. It will likely be top-heavy again leading into the July 4 weekend.

"It will be pretty bare at the end [of the week]," a source said.

There are no upcoming issues announced for the coming week.

"It depends on the tone [Monday]," he said.

KfW reopens five year

German government-owned bank KfW reopened its issue of 3.5% global notes due 2014 to add $1 billion, according to an FWP filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The notes priced at 102.173.

Total issuance is $5 billion, including $4 billion issued March 10.

Bookrunners were Credit Suisse Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.

The issuer is based in Frankfurt.

Merck bond popular

A bond that was part of the $4.25 billion deal in four tranches Monday from Merck was among the most-traded as of early Friday.

The 5% due 2019 was among the top five of the day, a trader said. Earlier in the week, the 5.85% bond due 2039 from the same issue was trading heavily.

Yum!, Morgan Stanley top trading

Bonds from fast-food chain operator Yum! Brands Inc. and Morgan Stanley topped trading early Friday afternoon, a trader said.

Yum!'s 6.25% bond due 2018 was most popular with investors. The company was recently ranked as among the top 40 workplaces for diversity by Black Enterprise magazine.

This bond was followed in heavy trading by Morgan Stanley's 6% bond due 2014. The financial services company is projected to take a loss for the second quarter.

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