Morning Commentary: General Mills, Aegon, Marriott, Charter on deck; Dollar Tree holds calls

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., April 3 – Tuesday is set for a busy round of high-grade issuance with several issuers marketing bonds over the morning.

General Mills, Inc. is offering $6 billion of notes in six tranches. The company (Baa2/BBB/BBB+) held fixed income investor calls on March 28.

General Mills announced plans in February to acquire Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc. for $8 billion, or $40.00 per share, in cash. The Minneapolis-based consumer food products manufacturer said it expects to finance the acquisition with a combination of debt, cash on hand and about $1 billion of equity.

Also early Tuesday, Aegon NV, Union Electric Co., doing business as Ameren Missouri, Marriott International, Inc., Welltower Inc. and Charter Communications, Inc. announced new bond offerings.

In other activity during the session, Dollar Tree Inc. will hold fixed income investor calls, a market source said. BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC are the arrangers.

Also, Salesforce.com, Inc. will hold investor calls on Tuesday and Wednesday for two tranches of senior notes, a source said. BofA Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, Barclays, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Wells Fargo are the arrangers.

In addition on Tuesday, Banco Santander, SA will kick off the company’s previously reported roadshow in the U.S. and Canadian markets for a benchmark-sized dollar-denominated note offering, according to a market source. BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Santander Investment Securities Inc. are the arrangers.

About $20 billion to $25 billion of high-grade bond issuance is expected by syndicate sources for the week.

On Monday, Securian Financial Group, Inc. was the sole reported investment-grade issuer with an upsized $500 million offering of 30-year senior notes.

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