Ford, Credit Agricole price as pace takes toll on investors; BHP better; Verizon holds tight

By Cristal Cody and Aleesia Forni

Virginia Beach, Sept. 26 - The pace of "overwhelming" issuance in the high-grade bond market showed signs of a slowdown on Thursday.

Three new deals from Credit Agricole SA, Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC and Export Development Canada priced during the relatively quiet session.

Ford Motor Credit came to market with a $1 billion issue of 2.875% notes due 2018.

The notes priced with a spread of Treasuries plus 145 basis points.

Meanwhile, Export Development Canada sold $1 billion of new 1.5% five-year paper to yield mid-swaps plus 2 bps.

Credit Agricole brought $1 billion of senior notes to Thursday's primary in two tranches, with both pricing on top of talk.

There was $500 million of floaters due 2016 priced at par to yield Libor plus 85 bps and $500 million of 2.625% notes due 2018 priced at Treasuries plus 130 bps.

In other market news, Fannie Mae announced plans to price Benchmark Notes due 2018.

The rush of issuance that followed last week's comments from the Federal Reserve that it would continue its bond purchasing program has begun to take its toll on investors.

"It's got to wind down tomorrow," one market source said.

Trading was active but "not very volatile" on Thursday, a market source said.

"Everybody's kind of digesting the new issues for the week," the trader added.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade series 21 index ended the day flat at a spread of 80 bps.

BHP Billiton Finance (USA) Ltd.'s bonds sold on Wednesday tightened in Thursday's market, with the 10-year tranche as much as 10 bps better, according to a market source.

"That one's doing pretty well," a trader said.

Time Warner Cable Inc.'s bonds continued to widen in Thursday's session, market sources said.

"At some points, it's 10 [bps] wider," one trader said.

The New York City-based broadband communications company's bonds have traded mostly wider over the week, sources said.

In other trading over the day, Verizon Communication Inc.'s bonds closed mostly unchanged, a trader said.

Export Development Canada sale

Export Development Canada sold $1 billion of 1.5% five-year notes to yield mid-swaps plus 2 bps, according to a syndicate source.

Pricing was at 99.464 to yield 1.612%.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and TD Securities are the joint bookrunners.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

The government-backed agency for exporters is based in Ottawa.

Credit Agricole's two-parter

Also on Thursday, Credit Agricole priced $1 billion of senior notes in two tranches, according to a source close to the deal.

Both tranches priced on top of talk.

The sale included $500 million of floating-rate notes due 2016 that sold at par to yield Libor plus 85 bps.

There was also $500 million of 2.625% notes due 2018 that sold with a spread of Treasuries plus 130 bps, or 99.647, to yield 2.701%.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

The retail bank is based in Paris.

Ford prices 2.875% notes

The session also saw Ford sell $1 billion of 2.875% notes due Oct. 1, 2018 with a spread of Treasuries plus 145 bps, according to a syndicate source and a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pricing was at 99.963 to yield 2.883%.

Banco Bradesco BBI SA, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Goldman Sachs & Co. and JPMorgan were the joint bookrunners.

Proceeds will be added to the general funds and will be used for the purchase of receivables, for loans and to repay debt.

Ford Motor Credit is the financing arm of Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker Ford Motor Co.

Fannie Mae to price

Fannie Mae announced that it is planning to sell an issue of Benchmark Notes due Nov. 27, 2018, according to a company press release.

The issue will settle Oct. 1.

Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities and Nomura Securities International, Inc. are the joint lead managers.

The co-managers are BNP Paribas Securities Corp., CastleOak Securities LP, FTN Financial Capital Markets, Multi-Bank Securities, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Inc. and Williams Capital Group LP.

BHP better

BHP Billiton Finance's 3.85% senior notes due 2023 (A1//A+) firmed 10 bps to 115 bps bid on Thursday in the secondary market, a trader said.

BHP sold $1.5 billion of the notes at Treasuries plus 125 bps on Wednesday.

The company is a subsidiary of Melbourne, Australia-based natural resources developer BHP Billiton Ltd.

Verizon flat

Verizon's bonds ended Thursday "pretty much unchanged from yesterday," a trader said. "Verizon's definitely holding its levels."

The company's 5.15% notes due 2023 (Baa1/BBB+/A-) traded mostly flat on the day at 160 bps bid, the trader said.

Verizon sold $11 billion of the 10-year notes with a spread of Treasuries plus 225 bps as part of its $49 billion eight-tranche deal priced on Sept. 11.

The telecommunications company is based in New York City.

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