Southwest Airlines, First Republic, Synovus, Hyundai, OKB, IBRD, Nationwide in primary market

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Feb. 5 – The investment-grade primary market stayed busy Wednesday with new corporate and sovereign, supranational and agency supply.

Southwest Airlines Co. offered $500 million of notes due 2030 with initial talk at the Treasuries plus 125 basis points area, a source said.

First Republic Bank expected to price four-year senior fixed-to-floating-rate notes during the session. Initial price talk was in the Treasuries plus 65 bps area, a source said.

Synovus Financial Corp. also planned to price three-year fixed-to-floating-rate notes that are talked to print at a 105 bps to 110 bps spread over Treasuries.

Hyundai Capital America was offering three tranches of dollar-denominated notes in a Rule 144A and Regulation S deal that included notes due Feb. 10, 2023 initially talked to price in the Treasuries plus 120 bps to 125 bps area, notes due Feb. 10, 2025 talked to print in the 145 bps to 150 bps spread area and notes due Feb. 10, 2027 that are initially talked at a 165 bps to 170 bps spread.

Also Wednesday, Centene Corp. priced $2 billion of split-rated notes due Feb. 15, 2030 (Ba1/BBB-/BB+) in an offering run off the high-yield desk, a source said.

Meanwhile, the SSA market continued to see action on Wednesday after reopening in the previous session.

Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG priced $1.5 billion of five-year global notes.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or World Bank, planned to price $500 million of global floating-rate notes due Aug. 6, 2024 during the session.

The notes are initially talked to price at the SOFR plus 28 bps area.

Nationwide Building Society also prepared to price covered bonds due Feb. 13, 2023 on Wednesday.

Initial price talk was in the mid-swaps plus 30 bps area with guidance tightened to the mid-swaps plus 27 bps area, plus or minus 1 bp.

Elsewhere, reverse Yankee corporate supply continued on Wednesday. Comcast Corp. priced €3 billion of euro-denominated bonds in three tranches and £1.4 billion of sterling-denominated notes in two tranches.

The deal follows International Business Machines Corp.’s €3.75 billion three-part bond offering on Tuesday.

Dow Chemical Co. also expects to tap the European primary market, sources said.

Credit spreads have tightened more than 4 bps over the past two sessions. On Wednesday, the Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 33 index firmed about 2 bps to a spread of 45 bps.

In secondary trading, new bank and financial notes priced this week were mixed but traded about 1 bp to 2 bps tighter, a market source said.

Oesterreichische prices $1.5 billion

Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (Aa1/AA+/) priced $1.5 billion of 1.5% five-year global notes on Wednesday at 99.655 and a spread of mid-swaps plus 12 bps, or Treasuries plus 12.65 bps, according to a market source and an FWP filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The notes due Feb. 12, 2025 were initially talked to place in the mid-swaps plus 14 bps area.

Barclays, Goldman Sachs International, J.P. Morgan Securities plc and RBC Capital Markets, LLC were the lead managers.

The notes are guaranteed by the Republic of Austria.

Vienna, Austria-based OKB provides financial and information services to Austria’s export industry and the capital market.

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