Philip Morris, Western Union, Apple, E*Trade price notes; LabCorp plans two-part notes

By Devika Patel

Knoxville, Tenn., Aug. 15 – Primary activity in the investment-grade bond market on Monday saw four deals price and one new deal come to market, with New York producer of cigarette and tobacco products Philip Morris International Inc. pricing a two-part sale of fixed-rate notes; Englewood, Colo.-based money transfer network Western Union Co. pricing $350 million of fixed- and floating-rate notes in two tranches; Cupertino, Calif., computer and mobile communications device company Apple Inc. pricing a C$2.5 billion sale of seven-year 2.513% notes; and New York online brokerage firm E*Trade Financial Corp. pricing a $1 billion offering of fixed-rate senior notes in two tranches. Burlington, N.C.-based diagnostic technologies developer Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings is marketing a two-tranche sale of senior notes, including an add-on to its 3.6% senior notes (Baa2/BBB/BBB+) due 2022.

Philip Morris prices notes

Philip Morris finalized terms for a $1.25 billion two-tranche sale of notes on Monday after market close.

The company priced $750 million of 2.375% five-year notes at Treasuries plus 70 basis points. The notes priced at 99.537 to yield 2.474%.

Philip Morris sold $500 million of 3.125% 10-year notes at a spread of 95 bps over Treasuries. These notes priced at 99.583 to yield 3.174%.

The notes have make-whole calls at Treasuries plus 12.5 bps until July 17, 2022 for the five-year notes and at Treasuries plus 15 bps until May 17, 2027 for the 10-year notes and then have par calls after those dates.

Goldman Sachs & Co., HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Mizuho Securities USA Inc. and Societe Generale CIB were the bookrunners.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, to refinance debt, to meet working capital requirements or to repurchase common stock.

Western Union sells notes

Western Union priced $350 million of fixed- and floating-rate notes in two parts, including an add-on to its 3.6% senior notes (Baa2/BBB/BBB+) due March 15, 2022.

Western Union sold $250 million of two-year floating-rate notes at par to yield Libor plus 80 bps.

The company sold $100 million of 3.6% five-year fixed-rate notes at 101.783 to yield 3.17%, or 135 bps over Treasuries. The company sold $400 million of the 3.6% notes in a sale that priced on March 8 and settled March 15. The notes were priced at 99.859 to yield 3.631% with a spread of 155 bps over Treasuries.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and U.S. Bancorp Investments Inc. were the bookrunners.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Apple prices notes

Apple privately placed C$2.5 billion of seven-year 2.513% notes at par of C$100.

HSBC Securities, RBC Capital Markets Corp., BMO Capital Markets Corp. and Goldman Sachs are the bookrunners.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including common stock repurchases, dividend payments, working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and debt repayment.

E*Trade sells $1 billion

E*Trade priced a $1 billion offering of fixed-rate senior notes in two tranches.

The company sold $600 million of five-year 2.95% notes with a Treasuries plus 115 bps spread. These notes priced at 99.898 to yield 2.972%.

E*Trade Financial priced $400 million of 10-year 3.8% notes with a Treasuries plus 155 bps spread. These notes priced at 99.852 to yield 3.818%.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Securities and Wells Fargo Securities LLC were the bookrunners.

Proceeds will be used to help redeem all of the company’s $540 million of 5.375% senior notes due 2022 and all of its $460 million of 4.625% senior notes due 2023.

LabCorp to offer notes

LabCorp intends to sell fixed-rate senior notes in two tranches, which will feature a make-whole call and then a par call.

BofA Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo Securities are the bookrunners.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including to repay at maturity the company’s 2.2% senior notes due Aug. 23, 2017 and to repay borrowings under its revolving credit facility.

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