Upsized KAR deal, Chesapeake lead $3 billion primary session; PetSmart shops megadeal

By Paul Deckelman and Paul A. Harris

New York, May 22 – Junkbondland saw its heaviest new-issuance day in nearly two months on Monday, as five drive-by issuers teamed up to price $3.06 billion of quickly shopped and opportunistically timed new dollar-denominated and fully junk-rated paper.

KAR Auction Services, Inc., which serves the used-car sales industry, had the big deal of the session, upsizing its offering of eight-year notes to $950 million.

Familiar junk issuer Chesapeake Energy Corp. priced $750 million of 10-year notes, funding a tender offer for some of its existing bonds,

Oil refinery operator PBF Energy, Inc., did $725 million of eight-year notes.

Molina Healthcare, Inc. brought $330 million of eight-year paper to market, while builder Meritage Homes Corp. capped off the day’s dealings with $300 million of 10-year notes.

Secondary market traders said that most of participants’ attention was focused on waiting for the late-day pricings of the five new deals, pushing other concerns to the sidelines.

Given the lateness of the hour that the new deals finally came, the traders did not immediately report any sizable initial aftermarket activity in the day’s new deals. Chesapeake’s existing paper firmed.

There was also considerable upside activity in specialty retailer PetSmart Inc.’s existing paper, even as the company began a roadshow Monday for its $2 billion two-part offering slated to price later in the week.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.