Agilent Technologies: Bond deal went 'phenomenally well,' books eight times oversubscribed

By Andrea Heisinger

New York, July 14 - Agilent Technologies, Inc. was more than happy with how its $750 million sale of senior unsecured bonds in two tranches went the previous day, the company's vice president and treasurer said Wednesday.

"With this particular offering - to say I was pleased would be an understatement," said Hilliard Terry.

The sale - in tranches due 2013 and 2020 - went "phenomenally well," he said.

The company was shooting for a zero new issue premium but instead had a negative one, in part due to the fact that the sale was eight times oversubscribed with $6 billion in demand.

"It was a home run from our standpoint," Terry said. "It exceeded expectations."

Agilent chose to issue Tuesday because it has a maturity coming in 2011 and the market looked good with financing levels at new lows. The issuer had been thinking about the best time to access the market and "yesterday seemed like a good day," Terry said.

The three- and 10-year maturities fit well into the company's maturity schedule, and the short-dated bond offers some flexibility.

The company last did a bond issue on Sept. 9, 2009, when it sold a similar $750 million deal in three-year and six-year tranches. Those three-year notes priced at 300 basis points over Treasuries, which was twice the 150 bps spread of Tuesday's three-year sale.

"We were able to achieve the pricing level we wanted," Terry said of the new bonds.

Proceeds are being used to satisfy financing obligations of subsidiary Agilent Technologies World Trade Inc. when they come due on Jan. 27.

The maker of electronic and bio-analytical measuring instruments is based in Santa Clara, Calif.

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