Actavis megadeal prices; Exxon upsizes; Exxon trades; AT&T firms; Verizon mixed

By Aleesia Forni and Cristal Cody

Virginia Beach, March 3 – The investment-grade primary market was flooded with issuance on Tuesday, with a $21 billion megadeal from Actavis plc leading the charge.

Actavis sold the offering in order to help funds its $66 billion acquisition of Allergan, Inc.

The deal is likely to pave the way for what is expected to be a very active month for the investment-grade primary bond market.

Exxon Mobil Corp. was another highlight of the busy session on Tuesday, attracting an order book that was nearly three times oversubscribed for its upsized $8 billion offering.

Away from the day’s two jumbo trades, Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc., Charles Schwab Corp., European Investment Bank, Council of Europe Development Bank, Paccar Financial Corp. and KfW were among the issuers bringing new deals to the primary.

In total, more than $37.5 billion of paper priced during the session, making it the busiest day of 2015 and pushing the week’s total supply to roughly $40.8 billion.

Investment-grade bonds were mixed over the day following the strong deal calendar.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index eased 1 bp to a spread of 62 bps.

Exxon Mobil’s notes traded about 1 bp tighter in aftermarket trading.

In other trading, AT&T Inc.’s notes (Baa1/BBB+/A) tightened 3 bps to 9 bps over the day.

Verizon Communications Inc.’s bonds (Baa1/BBB+/A-) were mixed in the secondary market.

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