AES’ $1 billion leads busy primary; new Sprint, Warner active; funds lose $703 million

By Paul A. Harris and James McCandless

San Antonio, March 1 – The high-yield primary market sprang to life on Thursday, despite turbulence in the stock market, with the announcement of six drive-by tranches from five different issuers.

The day’s biggest deal was a $1 billion offering of notes in two parts by power generator AES Corp.

Aircraft leasing company Avolon Holdings Ltd. and Australian iron miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. each brought $500 million transactions to market.

All three of these deals came at the mid-point of talk.

Meanwhile the high-yield secondary market continued the lower activity that it had Wednesday, according to traders, with newer issues taking up most of the space.

Last Wednesday’s $1 billion pricing from Sprint Corp. took up much of the volume in the secondary market.

Warner Music Group’s latest pricing, a fast $325 million issue Wednesday, showed continuing activity.

Frontier Communications Corp. notes were heavy in volume for a third day after Tuesday’s quarterly earnings report and Wednesday’s news that it would scrap its quarterly dividend.

Intelsat SA and Ensco plc contributed to Thursday’s volume.

Meanwhile high-yield mutual and exchange-traded funds saw outflows for a seventh straight week, according to data compiled by AMG Data Services Inc. For the week ended Feb. 28, the funds lost $703 million.

© 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.