Morning Commentary: NextEra Energy to price four tranches; Smithfield Foods tightens

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., March 28 – NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, Inc. is on deck on Thursday with a four-tranche offering of guaranteed debentures in the high-grade primary market.

The deal includes three-, five-, seven- and 10-year debentures guaranteed by parent company NextEra Energy Inc.

More than $12 billion of bonds, including a $5 billion eight-part offering of senior notes on Tuesday from Mars Inc., have priced week to date.

Just $1.4 billion of bonds were priced on Wednesday from AerCap Ireland Capital DAC/AerCap Global Aviation Trust and Smithfield Foods, Inc.

About $20 billion of investment-grade issuance was expected by syndicate sources for the week, though some anticipated as little as $15 billion of volume for the last week of March.

A couple of issuers also are in the deal pipeline after holding fixed income investor calls this week.

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. is offering 10-year senior notes, while Vodafone Group plc plans to price a dollar-denominated offering of 60-year notes.

Secondary trading has ramped up over the week with $26.89 billion of investment-grade issues traded on Wednesday, $24.98 billion on Tuesday and $20.36 billion on Monday, according to Trace data.

Smithfield Foods’ $400 million of 5.2% senior notes due April 1, 2029 (Ba1/BBB-/BBB) that priced on Wednesday improved 15 basis points in aftermarket trading, a source said.

The Smithfield, Va.-based meat processor priced the notes at a spread of 290 bps over Treasuries, on the tight side of guidance in the Treasuries plus 295 bps area, plus or minus 5 bps.

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