GE, Lloyds, eBay, Magna, Plains All American, Roper, Duke, Brixmor price; Fed expands lending

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., June 8 – The high-grade primary market saw more than a dozen issuers offering bonds on Monday following the Labor Department’s surprise positive May job report on Friday.

General Electric Co. priced a $1.5 billion reopening of its 4.35% senior notes due May 1, 2050 (Baa1/BBB+/BBB) on Monday.

GE Capital Global Holdings, LLC subsidiary GE Capital Funding, LLC also priced a $1.5 billion tap of its 4.4% senior notes due May 15, 2030 (Baa1/BBB+/BBB) during the session.

GE said in a news release that the $3 billion of notes were reopened “in response to a reverse inquiry from a long-term strategic investor.”

In other pricing action on Monday, Lloyds Banking Group plc sold $1 billion of three-year senior callable fixed-to-fixed-rate notes (A3/BBB+/A+).

eBay Inc. came by with a $750 million two-part reopening of senior notes (Baa1/BBB+/BBB), including its 1.9% notes due March 11, 2025 and 2.7% notes due March 11, 2030.

Magna International Inc. priced $750 million of 10-year senior notes (A3/A-/) in a deal upsized from $500 million.

Plains All American Pipeline, LP and PAA Finance Corp. sold $750 million of split-rated senior notes due Sept. 15, 2030 (Ba1/BBB-/BBB-) on Monday in an offering upsized from $500 million.

Northern States Power Co. brought $700 million of green first mortgage bonds due June 1, 2051 (Aa3/A/A+) to the primary market.

Roper Technologies, Inc. priced $600 million of 10-year senior notes (Baa2/BBB+/).

Duke Energy Florida, LLC tapped the market with a $500 million offering of 10-year first mortgage bonds (A1/A/).

Brixmor Operating Partnership LP sold $500 million of 10-year senior notes (Baa3/BBB-/BBB-) in a deal upsized from $300 million.

Also on Monday, Equinix, Inc. offered four tranches of senior notes (Baa3/BBB-/BBB-), including five-year notes with initial price talk in the Treasuries plus 120 basis points area, seven-year notes talked at the 150 bps spread area, 10-year notes talked at the 165 bps spread area and 30-year notes talked at the 185 bps over Treasuries area.

Phillips 66 also offered new and reopened guaranteed senior notes (A3/BBB+/) during the session. The deal included $500 million of new notes due Dec. 15, 2030 talked at the 170 bps over Treasuries area and a tap of the company’s 3.85% notes due April 9, 2025 talked at the 115 bps spread area.

The high-grade primary market is expected to see steady action this week with about $30 billion to $40 billion of volume forecast.

Investment-grade issuers priced more than $46 billion of securities last week.

Credit spreads eased nearly 2 bps on Monday. The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 33 index closed the day at a spread of 66.65 bps.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Board announced Monday that it has expanded its Main Street Lending Program to allow more small and medium-sized businesses to be able to receive support in response to the economic problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The board lowered the minimum loan amount to $250,000 from $500,000, raised the maximum loan limit for all facilities, adjusted the principal repayment schedule to begin after two years instead of one year and extended the term to five years from four years. The announcement also raises the bank’s participation to purchase 95% of all eligible loans in the program.

The Federal Reserve board said it expects the program to be open for lender participation soon and to begin buying loans shortly afterwards.

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