Rentenbank sells floaters; MUFG sets global call; AT&T eases; Whole Foods flat; Starbucks firms

By Aleesia Forni and Cristal Cody

New York, Feb. 11 – Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank entered Thursday’s primary market as another bout of volatility kept investment-grade bond activity to a minimum. Oil prices plummeted below $27 per barrel and stocks dropped sharply.

Meantime, more details emerged on Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.’s investor meetings ahead of its planned two-part bond offering.

“Really not much happening,” one market source said. “We weren’t expecting anything today, and we probably won’t see anything tomorrow either.”

So far this week, the only other new deal to emerge was a $115 million issue of notes from Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC on Tuesday. The preferred market, meanwhile, saw Senior Housing Properties Trust price an upsized issue on Wednesday.

Sources had called for the possibility of around $10 billion to $15 billion of investment-grade issuance this week.

Investment-grade bonds were mixed in secondary trading, and credit spreads widened over the day.

AT&T Inc.’s notes (Baa1/BBB+/A-) traded 4 basis points to 5 bps weaker.

Whole Foods Market Inc.’s 5.2% senior notes due 2025 were unchanged a day after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

Starbucks Corp.’s 2.1% senior notes due 2021 firmed 1 bp during the session.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index widened 4 bps to close the day at a spread of 125 bps.

Rentenbank prices

Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank sold $750 million of floating-rate senior notes due Feb. 19, 2021 on Thursday at par to yield Libor plus 35 bps, according to an informed source.

The notes (Aaa/AAA/AAA) sold in line with talk.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and TD Securities managed the sale.

The German development agency for agribusiness is based in Frankfurt.

MUFG investor call

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (A1/A) will hold an investor call on Friday ahead of a planned two-part offering of senior holding company notes, according to a market source.

As previously reported, the company will begin a series of investor calls on Monday in the United States, Europe and Asia.

The offering is expected to include fixed-rate notes and a floating-rate tranche.

The active bookrunners are Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and MUFG. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is the passive bookrunner.

Proceeds will be used to fund the operations of MUFG through loans.

The financial services company is based in Tokyo.

AT&T eases

AT&T’s 4.125% notes due 2026 eased 5 bps on Thursday to 223 bps bid in secondary trading, a market source said.

The company sold $1.75 billion of the notes (Baa1/BBB+/A-) on Jan. 29 at Treasuries plus 220 bps.

AT&T is a Dallas-based telecommunications company.

Whole Foods flat

Whole Foods’ 5.2% notes due 2025 were unchanged at 350 bps bid on Thursday, a market source said.

The company sold $1 billion of the notes (Baa3/BBB-) on Nov. 30 at a spread of Treasuries plus 300 bps.

The natural and organic foods supermarket is based in Austin, Texas.

Starbucks firms

Starbucks’ 2.1% notes due 2021 firmed 1 bp to 73 bps bid in the secondary market, a source said.

Starbucks sold $500 million of the notes (A2/A-/A) at 75 bps over Treasuries on Feb. 1.

The specialty coffee retailer is based in Seattle.

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