Mastercard, DNB price notes; Experian in deal pipeline; Westpac firms; Western Union flat

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Nov. 25 – New high-grade supply on Monday included a $750 million offering of long five-year senior notes that Mastercard Inc. priced on the tight side of guidance.

Also on Monday, DNB Bank ASA sold $3 billion of three-year senior notes in fixed- and floating-rate tranches.

The Federal Home Loan Bank System announced at the start of the day that it would forgo pricing a Global note during the session. The next scheduled opportunity for FHLBanks to tap the primary market is on Dec. 2.

Meanwhile, the reverse Yankee bond market has been active in November with several issuers pricing euro notes.

On Monday, Stryker Corp., a Kalamazoo, Mich.-based medical technology company, sold €2.4 billion of notes in three tranches.

In other new supply on Monday, Morguard Corp. priced C$225 million of five-year senior debentures.

Otherwise, the dollar-denominated investment-grade primary market was mostly quiet over the session with light action forecast for the Thanksgiving Day holiday week.

Up to about $5 billion of supply is anticipated this week, market sources report.

The bond markets will be closed Thursday and will close early at 2 p.m. ET on Friday for the holiday.

“Some people might try to get something in the next couple of days,” a syndicate source said. “We’ve really only got two weeks in December, so we might see guys rushing in to get something done before books close for the end of the year.”

Looking ahead, Experian Finance plc is expected to be in the primary market in December with a dollar-denominated Rule 144A and Regulation S offering of 10-year senior notes.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 33 index firmed about 1.5 basis points on Monday to end at a spread of 50 bps.

In the secondary market, Westpac Banking Corp.’s new 2.35% senior notes due Feb. 19, 2025 improved about 1 bp after widening last week following money laundering allegations levied against the company.

Western Union Corp.’s new 2.85% senior notes due Jan. 10, 2025 headed out flat.

Mastercard prices $750 million

Mastercard sold $750 million of 2% senior notes due March 3, 2025 (A1/A+/) on Monday at 99.759 to yield 2.049%, according to a market source and an FWP filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The notes priced at a spread of 43 bps plus Treasuries, on the tight side of guidance in the 45 bps spread area.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Lloyds Securities Inc., Mizuho Securities USA Inc., Santander Investment Securities Inc., Barclays, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Commerz Markets LLC, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, NatWest Markets Securities Inc. and PNC Capital Markets LLC were the bookrunners.

Mastercard is a Purchase, N.Y.-based global payment solutions company.

DNB Bank sells two tranches

DNB Bank priced $3 billion of three-year senior notes (Aa2/AA-/) in two parts on Monday, according to a market source.

A $600 million tranche of floating-rate notes due Dec. 2, 2022 priced at Libor plus 62 bps.

DNB Bank sold $1.4 billion of 2.15% three-year fixed-rate notes at a Treasuries plus 58 bps spread.

The bookrunners were BofA Securities, Inc., Barclays, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC.

DNB Bank is an Oslo, Norway based financial services group.

Experian plans investor calls

Experian Finance plc plans to price a dollar-denominated Rule 144A and Regulation S offering of 10-year senior notes (Baa1/A-/), according to a market source.

The company is expected to hold fixed income investor calls for the issue on Dec. 2.

HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Santander Investment Securities Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities LLC are the arrangers.

Experian Finance is a subsidiary of Dublin, Ireland consumer credit reporting agency Experian plc.

Westpac improves

Westpac Banking’s 2.35% senior notes due Feb. 19, 2025 (Aa3/AA-) firmed about 1 bp in secondary trading on Monday to 77 bps bid, according to a market source.

The bank sold $1.25 billion of the notes on Nov. 12 at a 63 bps spread over Treasuries.

The bank is based in Sydney, Australia.

Western Union steady

Western Union’s 2.85% senior notes due Jan. 10, 2025 were unchanged on the day at 121 bps bid, according to a market source.

The issuer (Baa2/BBB/BBB+) sold $500 million of the notes a week ago on Nov. 18 at a spread of 125 bps over Treasuries.

Western Union is an Englewood, Colo.-based money transfer network.

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