U.S. Corporates Ready $30 Billion of Bond Sales After Earnings

Jack Pitcher
·2 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Investment-grade primary sales are projected to remain strong next week, with syndicate desks estimating about $30 billion in fresh supply, according to an informal survey of debt underwriters. More corporate deals are expected to come forward as companies emerge from earnings-blackout periods.

Banks have anchored high-grade issuance over the past two weeks, with Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. the only two of the top six U.S. banks yet to issue new bonds after reporting earnings.

High-grade debt continues to recover from the pandemic crisis, with agencies improving their ratings or outlooks on $128 billion of IG index debt in the week ended April 22, Citigroup strategists led by Daniel Sorid wrote.

M&A activity also remains robust, which may boost new bond supply. Investment-grade issuer Panasonic Corp. agreed last week to take over U.S. artificial intelligence software developer Blue Yonder Group Inc. for $7.1 billion. The deal will be partially financed with a bridge loan that will be refinanced with hybrid financing, according to a statement.

High Yield

The high-yield calendar is light heading into the week, but the issuance backdrop remains strong.

Helios Software Holdings Inc., also known as ION Corporates, is set to price a $350 million 7-year junk bond on Monday, the only deal known to be in the high-yield pipeline.

Strong growth, continued low-cost borrowing and an oil rally are all contributing to a friendly backdrop for high-yield issuance. This week, junk-rated U.S. companies set a record for most bonds ever sold in April, capping a 12-month issuance boom. The month’s supply currently stands at more than $40 billion.

Next month has the potential to be even busier.

“May is seasonally the strongest month of high-yield issuance,” Bank of America Corp. strategists led by Oleg Melentyev wrote in a report Friday. BofA is projecting $47 billion of high-yield supply next month.

Barclays Plc sees an “extremely benign default environment” for high-yield bonds and leveraged loans in 2021, driven by better expectations for U.S. GDP growth, looser lending standards and strong new issue markets, strategists led by Bradley Rogoff wrote Friday.

Loan launches slowed this week, with most deals earmarked to fund acquisitions and buyouts. Loan funds continue to see robust demand, posting a $1 billion-plus inflow for the third week in a row, according to Refinitiv Lipper. That’s the first time this has happened since December 2016, the data show.

In distressed debt, mall owner Washington Prime Group’s amended forbearance agreement is set to expire in the middle of next week pending a further extension. Voyager Aviation Holdings also faces a deadline on its debt exchange offer that expires Monday.

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    In a blog posted on Friday evening, Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former de facto chief of staff, fired off an extraordinary salvo in response to a Downing Street briefing that he was the source of a series of leaks that had seriously undermined the Prime Minister. And then he lobbed in a grenade. Or two. The blog begins with "The Prime Minister’s new Director of Communications Jack Doyle, at the PM’s request, has made a number of false accusations to the media" and then helpfully lists, one after the other, a series of counter-claims that further threaten Mr Johnson’s position. If Downing Street thought briefing against Cummings had been a good idea, they may be less inclined to think so now. The Dyson text messages What Cummings wrote: I do have some WhatsApp messages between the PM/Dyson forwarded to me by the PM. I have not found the ones that were leaked to Laura Kuenssberg on my phone nor am I aware of being sent them last year. I was not directly or indirectly a/the source for the BBC/Kuenssberg story on the PM/Dyson texts. Yesterday some No10 officials told me that No10 would make this accusation and told me what they believe actually happened — that Dyson’s office emailed a number of officials, including HMT officials, and included screenshots of the PM/Dyson texts, and that this correspondence, from roughly a year ago, was passed to the BBC. I do not know if this is correct. Officials told me yesterday that I was not copied in on this correspondence and I do not remember it (I no longer have access to my official email so cannot check this). I am happy to meet with the Cabinet Secretary and for him to search my phone for Dyson messages. If the PM did send them to me, as he is claiming, then he will be able to show the Cabinet Secretary on his own phone when they were sent to me. It will therefore be easy to establish at least if I was ever sent these messages. I am also happy to publish or give to the Cabinet Secretary the PM/Dyson messages that I do have, which concerned ventilators, bureaucracy and Covid policy — not tax issues. Cummings has been accused of releasing text messages between Mr Johnson and Sir James Dyson, the businessman, seeking changes on tax rules over a plan to design and build ventilators at the peak of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sir James never benefitted or intended to personally benefit from the tax change. Cummings admits to possessing WhatsApp messages forwarded to him by Mr Johnson, but says these are not the same as the text messages leaked to Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor. Cummings suggests a huge rift inside Downing Street with "some No10 officials" informing him in advance of the briefing that he was the source of the leak. Under this separate version of events, Cummings hints at an even wider conspiracy with "Dyson’s office" emailing "a number of officials" across Government including the Treasury. The blog suggests a cabal of Number 10 officials still loyal to Cummings that "told me yesterday" that Cummings was "not copied in". That would indicate they have checked their emails, not found Cummings on the email chain, and then told him. Cummings goes on to make it clear he no longer has access to his "official" emails, although that would not rule out his having forwarded emails to a private account. Cummings then lays down a challenge to the Prime Minister. He says he will meet Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, and allow him to root through his phone. But here’s the sting. If Mr Johnson is so sure that Cummings is the leaker, why doesn’t the Prime Minister hand his phone to the Cabinet Secretary and in doing so disclose all the text messages he did have with Sir James Dyson. This is clever stuff from Cummings, attempting to push the Prime Minister into a corner. Then there’s the final sting. Cummings does have messages between the Prime Minister and Sir James, he reveals. And those - about Covid, ventilators and bureaucracy - he is happy to hand over to Mr Case. Or potentially worse still for the Prime Minister, make them public. Tax issues, Cummings is saying, is not all that Mr Johnson discussed with Sir James and he’s prepared to go public with those messages too.

  • A North Carolina city council fired a man for 'white privilege and entitlement' after he refused to address a Black woman by her professional title

    The man, a volunteer on the zoning commission, refused a Black woman's repeated asks for him to address her as "Dr." instead of "Mrs."

  • A vegan, cheese alternative is recalled for salmonella in 17 states. Here’s what to do

    Got some Jule’s Cashew Brie, a vegan, plant-based cheese alternative, as a treat?