Lloyds, HCP, MetLife do deals; Vodafone scraps 30-year bonds; Pfizer trades mostly flat

By Aleesia Forni and Cristal Cody

New York, Nov. 23 – Lloyds Banking Group plc, HCP Inc., MetLife Global Funding I and Stifel Financial Corp. priced new high-grade bond deals to open the shortened week on Monday, while Vodafone Group plc scrapped plans for a new 30-year senior note issue.

Pushback from investors forced the London-based company to pull the planned benchmark deal following its announced price talk in the Treasuries plus 250 basis points area, a market source said, though other details were unavailable at press time.

Away from the pulled deal, HCP and Stifel Financial each sold upsized new issues tight of initial pricing thoughts, while Lloyds Banking saw more than $4 billion of orders for its tier 2 subordinated offering of notes.

Around $4.1 billion of supply entered Monday’s primary, already closing in on what sources had expected to be between $5 billion and $10 billion of new issuance this week.

Sources expect the bulk of that total to price at the front-end of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Investment-grade bonds were mixed in secondary trading over the session, while credit spreads softened.

Pfizer Inc.’s 3.4% senior notes due 2024 headed out mostly flat after the company announced an acquisition of Dublin-based Allergen plc in a record deal valued at $160 billion.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.’s bonds traded 3 bps to 4 bps better on Monday.

Time Warner Inc.’s 3.6% notes due 2025 firmed 3 bps in the secondary market.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 25 index eased 1 bp to close the day at a spread of 85 bps.

Vodafone pulls deal

Vodafone Group pulled a planned benchmark offering of 30-year senior notes (Baa1/BBB+/BBB+) on Monday, a market source said.

The notes were initially talked in the 250 bps area over Treasuries via bookrunners Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC.

The telecommunications company is based in London.

MetLife prices notes

MetLife Global Funding priced $1.25 billion of funding agreement-backed notes (Aa3/AA-/AA-) in two tranches on Monday, a market source said.

There was $500 million of 1.95% three-year notes priced at 99.928 to yield 1.975%, or 73 bps over Treasuries

A $750 million tranche of 2.5% five-year notes sold at Treasuries plus 83 bps. The issue sold at a price of 99.93 to yield 2.515%.

Both tranches sold at the tight end of price guidance.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were the bookrunners.

The issuer is a unit of New York City-based insurance and employee benefits company MetLife Inc.

HCP prices tight

HCP priced an upsized $600 million of 4% seven-year senior notes (Baa1/BBB+/BBB+) during the session on Monday at 205 bps over Treasuries, according to a market source and an FWP filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pricing was at 99.577 to yield 4.07%.

The notes sold at the tight side of price talk set in the Treasuries plus 210 bps area.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, RBC Capital Markets LLC and UBS Securities LLC are the joint bookrunners.

The deal was upsized from $500 million.

Proceeds will be used to fund the repayment of $500 million of 3.75% senior notes due February 2016, to temporarily reduce outstanding borrowings under a revolving line of credit or for other general corporate purposes.

The real estate investment trust for the health care industry is based in Long Beach, Calif.

Lloyds sells tier 2 notes

Lloyds Banking Group priced $500 million of 5.3% tier 2 subordinated notes (Baa2/BBB-/A-) due Dec. 1, 2045 at Treasuries plus 230 bps on Monday, a market source said.

Pricing was at 99.866 to yield 5.309%.

Initial guidance was set in the 250 bps area over Treasuries.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Bookrunners were BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Lloyds Securities LLC.

The retail bank is based in London.

Stifel upsizes, prices

Stifel Financial priced $300 million of 3.5% senior notes (/BBB-/BBB) due Dec. 1, 2020 at Treasuries plus 190 bps on Monday, according to an FWP filed with the SEC.

The issue, which was upsized from $250 million, priced at 99.614 to yield 3.585%.

Initially, price talk was set in the low-200 bps area.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is the bookrunner.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Stifel is a St. Louis-based full-service retail and institutional brokerage and investment bank.

Comcast sells new issue

Also on Monday, Comcast Corp. sold $1.45 billion of notes due Feb. 1, 2046 at par on Monday, according to an FWP filing with the SEC.

Proceeds will be used for working capital, general corporate purposes and commercial paper.

The managers are E. Sun Commercial Bank Ltd., MasterLink Securities Corp. and SinoPac Securities Corp.

Comcast Cable Communications LLC and NBCUniversal Media LLC are the guarantors.

The notes are redeemable on each Feb. 1 on or after Feb. 1, 2018 at par plus accrued and unpaid interest.

Comcast is a Philadelphia-based provider of entertainment, information and communication products and services.

Pfizer stable

Pfizer’s 3.4% notes due 2024 were quoted late Monday afternoon mostly flat at 103 bps bid, according to a market source.

Pfizer sold $1 billion of the notes (A1/AA/) on May 13, 2014 at a spread of Treasuries plus 80 bps.

The biopharmaceutical company is based in New York City.

Hewlett Packard tightens

Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s 4.9% notes due 2025 were seen trading 4 bps tighter at 287 bps bid, a market source said.

The company sold $2.5 billion of the notes (Baa2/BBB/A-) on Sept. 30 at Treasuries plus 290 bps.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of technology services.

Time Warner stronger

Time Warner’s 3.6% notes due 2025 firmed 3 bps over the day to 156 bps bid, a market source said.

The company priced $1.5 billion of the notes (Baa2/BBB) on May 28 at a spread of 150 bps over Treasuries.

Time Warner is a media company based in New York.

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