SoftBank prices dollar bonds as part of giant multi-part deal; energy names off, Caesars climbs

By Paul Deckelman and Paul A. Harris

New York, July 22 – One of the year’s biggest junk bond deals came to market on Wednesday, with syndicate sources seeing Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank Group Corp. – the majority owner of familiar Junkbondland wireless name Sprint Corp. – pricing a five-tranche, benchmark-sized offering of dollar- and euro-denominated notes.

The dollar portion of that bond behemoth consisted of $1 billion each of seven-year notes and 10-year notes. Traders did not report any initial aftermarket dealings in the SoftBank paper, which was sold under Regulation S only.

SoftBank was the only dollar-denominated issue to have priced during the session.

Looking ahead to Thursday, traders were anticipating pricing on a $405 million offering of eight-year notes from Kenan Advantage Group Inc., a provider of liquid bulk transportation services.

Away from the new deals, the market saw continued weaknesses in energy sector names such as oil and natural gas producer SandRidge Energy Inc., Chesapeake Energy Corp. and California Resources Corp.

Non-energy names such as aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Inc. also struggled.

But Caesars Entertainment Corp. notes shot up by several points on a creditor-friendly ruling from the bankruptcy judge overseeing the troubled casino giant’s restructuring.

Statistical measures of junk market performance were lower all around for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday.

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