AIG, Unilever, Macquarie, Connecticut Light price; Kommunalbanken eyes $1 billion deal

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., March 19 – Several issuers priced new bonds on Monday in the high-grade market.

American International Group, Inc. sold $2.5 billion of senior notes in two tranches and fixed-to-floating rate junior subordinated debentures in one tranche.

Unilever Capital Corp. priced $2.1 billion of guaranteed senior notes in four tranches on the tight side of guidance.

Macquarie Group Ltd. brought $1.75 billion of senior notes in three tranches to the primary market.

Connecticut Light and Power Co., doing business as Eversource Energy, sold $500 million of 30-year first and refunding mortgage bonds.

HSBC Holdings plc also was marketing securities.

Coming up, Kommunalbanken AS plans to tap the primary market on Tuesday with a $1 billion offering of two-year notes.

Deal supply is expected to be light over the week due in part to the Federal Reserve’s two-day monetary policy meeting that ends on Wednesday.

A rate hike of 25 basis points is widely expected, according to market sources.

Syndicate sources forecast about $20 billion of bond supply for the week with volume expected to top out in the $30 billion range.

Investment-grade issuance was light in the previous week with less than $22 billion of supply.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 29 index closed the day about 1 bp softer at a spread of 55 bps.

AIG prices $2.5 billion

American International Group priced $2.5 billion of senior notes (Baa1/BBB+/BBB+) and fixed-to-floating rate series A-9 junior subordinated debentures (Baa2/BBB-/BBB-) on Monday, according to FWP filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company placed $750 million of 4.2% 10-year notes at 99.627 to yield 4.246%, or a Treasuries plus 140 bps spread.

AIG sold $1 billion of 4.75% 30-year senior notes at 99.413 to yield 4.787% and a spread of 170 bps over Treasuries.

AIG also sold $750 million of 5.75% fixed-to-floating rate series A-9 junior subordinated debentures at par. The debentures will reset to a floating rate of Libor plus 286.8 bps on April 1, 2028.

BofA Merrill Lynch, U.S. Bancorp Investments Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC and Wells Fargo Securities LLC were the bookrunners.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including funding a portion of the company’s acquisition of Validus Holdings, Ltd.

AIG is a global insurance company based in New York.

Unilever raises $2.1 billion

Unilever Capital sold $2.1 billion of guaranteed senior notes (A1/A+/A+) in four tranches on the tight side of guidance on Monday, according to a market source.

The company priced $400 million of 2.75% three-year notes at a spread of Treasuries plus 48 bps.

Unilever sold $550 million of 3.125% five-year notes at a Treasuries plus 63 bps spread.

The company sold $350 million of 3.375% seven-year notes at a spread of 75 bps over Treasuries.

Unilever also priced $800 million of 3.5% 10-year notes at a Treasuries plus 83 bps spread.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. and Morgan Stanley were the bookrunners.

The notes are guaranteed unconditionally by Unilever NV, Unilever plc and Unilever United States, Inc.

Proceeds will be for general corporate purposes.

The U.S. office of the Dutch and English consumer goods company is based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Macquarie sells $1.75 billion

Macquarie Group priced $1.75 billion of senior notes (A3/BBB/A-) in three tranches on Monday, according to a market source.

The company sold $550 million of six-year floating-rate notes at Libor plus 135 bps, on the tight side of price guidance in the Libor plus 135 bps area, plus or minus 5 bps.

Macquarie priced $700 million of 4.15% six-year notes at a spread of Treasuries plus 150 bps. The notes were talked to price in the Treasuries plus 150 bps area, plus or minus 5 bps.

In the final tranche, the company sold $500 million of 4.654% 11-year notes on top of guidance at a spread of 180 bps over Treasuries.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets, HSBC Securities, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Macquarie Group were the bookrunners.

Macquarie Group is a Sydney, Australia-based financial services company.

Connecticut Light prints

Connecticut Light and Power, doing business as Eversource Energy, sold $500 million of 4% series 2018A first and refunding mortgage bonds due April 1, 2048 on Monday at a spread of 93 bps over Treasuries, according to an FWP filing with the SEC.

Connecticut Light and Power priced the bonds (A2/AA-/A+) at 99.757 to yield 4.014%.

Barclays, BofA Merrill Lynch, Mizuho Securities USA LLC and MUFG were the bookrunners.

Proceeds will be used to repay at maturity all of the company’s $300 million outstanding of 5.65% series 2008A first and refunding mortgage bonds due May 1, 2018 and to repay short-term debt. As of March 15, the company had about $135.1 million of outstanding short-term debt.

The Boston-based company is engaged in the energy delivery business through utility subsidiaries.

Kommunalbanken eyes $1 billion

Kommunalbanken (Aaa/AAA/) intends to price $1 billion of notes due April 17, 2020 in a Rule 144A and Regulation S offering on Tuesday, according to a market source.

The notes were initially talked to price in the mid-swaps flat area.

BMO Capital Markets Corp., Citigroup Global Markets and TD Securities (USA) LLC are the lead managers.

The government-funded lender to municipalities is based in Oslo.

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