Upsized Charter Communications, Huntsman deals drive by; Essar Steel offering on deck

By Paul Deckelman

New York, Oct. 29 – The high-yield primary sphere had one of its biggest-volume days in a while on Wednesday, as some $3.9 billion of new dollar-denominated, fully junk-rated paper came to market, syndicate sources said.

Most of that issuance was attributable to just one transaction: Charter Communications, Inc.’s massively upsized $3.5 billion two-part offering. It consisted of eight- and 10-year notes, with the proceeds to be used to help fund the cable and broadband operator’s acquisition of some Time Warner Cable assets from Comcast Corp., which the latter company is divesting in order as part of its acquisition of most of Time Warner Cable.

Charter’s quick-to-market offering – delayed by the great upsizing – priced too late for any kind of initial aftermarket activity.

Earlier in the session, Huntsman Corp. did a quickly shopped deal that was also upsized. The $400 million of eight-year paper will see its proceeds used to fund the redemption of some of the company’s existing notes.

Existing Charter and Huntsman bonds were seen lower on the news of the respective companies’ new deals.

The new Huntsman bonds, meanwhile, were heavily traded, moving up a little from their issue price.

New issue players continued to anticipate the pricing of Essar Steel Algoma Inc.’s $625 million two-part deal, as well as the conclusion of roadshows by Evraz Inc. NA Canada in the dollar market and by Abengoa Yield plc and Arrow Global plc in the euro-denominated market.

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