Sirius, Charter price; United Rentals at a premium; Venture Global active

By Paul A. Harris and Abigail W. Adams

Portland, Me., Aug. 2 – August got off to a blazing start in the high-yield new-issue market with three issuers rolling out a total of four dollar-denominated tranches Monday.

Sirius XM Radio priced an upsized $2.5 billion amount (from $2 billion) of senior notes (Ba3/BB) in two tranches: $1 billion of 3 1/8% five-year notes and $1.5 billion of 3 7/8% 10-year notes.

Charter Communications priced an upsized $2 billion issue (from $1.25 billion) of 4¼% 12.5-year senior notes (B1/BB) at par, in the middle of talk.

Altice Financing SA plans to price a $2.75 billion two-part offering of eight-year senior secured notes on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, it was a slow start to the week in the secondary space with the market flat and volume light as market players eyed the onslaught of new deals in the pipeline.

New and recent issues continued to dominate the tape.

United Rentals (North America), Inc.’s 3¾% senior notes due 2032 (Ba2/BB) were active with the notes holding on to the premium reached after breaking for trade.

Venture Global Calcasieu Pass LLC’s two tranches of senior secured notes (Ba3/BB) remained active with the tranches continuing to outperform in the secondary space.

Meanwhile, as market players awaited Altice Financing SA’s megadeal, Altice USA subsidiary CSC Holdings Inc.’s 5¾% senior notes due 2030 were active although with little movement in price.

Primary blazing hot

The session saw megadeals from a couple of ultra-familiar names in junkland.

Sirius XM Radio priced an upsized $2.5 billion amount (from $2 billion) of senior notes (Ba3/BB) in two tranches: $1 billion of 3 1/8% five-year notes and $1.5 billion of 3 7/8% 10-year notes.

Both tranches came at par, at the tight ends of talk.

The deal was heard to be playing to $7 billion of demand across both tranches.

Elsewhere Charter Communications priced an upsized $2 billion issue (from $1.25 billion) of 4¼% 12.5-year senior notes (B1/BB) at par, in the middle of talk.

The deal was oversubscribed, with investors having put in for $3.5 billion of the bonds by 1 p.m. ET on Monday, a trader said.

A third issuer from the TMT sector, Altice, came with a deal that was set to remain in the market overnight.

Altice Financing SA plans to price a $2.75 billion two-part offering of eight-year senior secured notes (expected ratings B2/B) in benchmark dollar-denominated and euro-denominated tranches on Tuesday.

The deal features dollar-denominated notes with initial guidance in the mid-5% area, and euro-denominated notes with initial guidance in the mid-4% area.

$227 million Friday outflows

The dedicated high-yield bond funds sustained $227 million of net outflows on Friday, the most recent session for which data was available at press time, according to a market source.

High-yield ETFs saw $275 million outflows on the day.

Actively managed high-yield funds were positive on the Friday, posting $48 million of inflows on the day, the source said.

United Rentals at a premium

United Rentals’ 3¾% senior notes due 2032 remained active on Monday with the notes holding onto the premium reached after breaking for trade.

The 3¾% notes were wrapped around 101 in active trading, according to a market source.

There was more than $25 million in reported volume.

United Rentals priced a $750 million issue of the 3¾% notes at par in a Friday drive-by.

The yield printed in the middle of yield talk in the 3¾% area.

Venture Global active

Venture Global’s two tranches of senior notes continued to see heavy volume in the secondary space although with little movement in price.

The 3 7/8% senior secured notes due 2029 remained on a 102-handle and continued to trade in the 102 1/8 to 102 3/8 context, according to a market source.

There was more than $36 million in reported volume.

The company’s 4 1/8% notes were slightly improved although they remained on a 103-handle.

The notes were changing hands in the 103 5/8 to 103 7/8 context heading into the market close, according to a market source.

There was more than $22 million in reported volume.

The 3 7/8% notes and 4 1/8% notes have outperformed in the secondary space since breaking for trade on July 29.

Altice active

CSC Holdings’ 5¾% senior notes due 2030 were active on Monday as market players awaited the latest offering from the cable TV services provider.

The notes were little changed, closing the day at 104 5/8 with the yield now 4.9%, according to a market source.

There was more than $22 million in reported volume.

Indexes

The KDP High Yield Daily index rose 1 basis point to close Monday at 70.26. However, the yield was unchanged at 3.65%.

The index posted a cumulative gain of 7 bps on the week last week.

The CDX High Yield 30 index was down 9 bps to close Monday at 109.08.

The index posted a cumulative loss of 74 bps on the week last week.

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