Apple markets nine tranches of notes; Johnson Controls prices; Apple existing bonds mixed

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Feb. 2 – Apple Inc. was in the high-grade deal pipeline with a nine-tranche offering of notes on Thursday.

Apple’s offering includes three tranches of floating-rate notes and six tranches of fixed-rate notes.

Also on Thursday, Johnson Controls International plc priced a $500 million 30-year senior note offering.

The week has seen the largest high-grade bond deal priced year to date. Microsoft Corp. sold $17 billion of notes in seven tranches on Monday. Also, on Tuesday, AT&T Inc. priced a $10 billion six-tranche global notes offering.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index closed mostly flat at a spread of 66 basis points.

Apple’s existing bonds were mixed with the long end seen about 1 bp to 2 bps tighter in the secondary market on Thursday. The company’s 2.45% notes due 2026 eased 5 bps.

Johnson Controls taps market

Johnson Controls International sold $500 million of 4.5% 30-year senior notes (Baa1/BBB+/BBB+) at a spread of 145 bps over Treasuries on Thursday, according to an FWP filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The notes due Feb. 15, 2047 priced at 99.088 to yield 4.556%.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch, U.S. Bancorp Investments Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities LLC were the bookrunners.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes including acquisitions and working capital, to repurchase ordinary shares, for dividends, for capital expenditures, for investments in subsidiaries and for debt repayment, including repaying the company’s outstanding commercial paper.

Johnson Controls is a global diversified technology company based in Milwaukee.

Apple bonds mixed

Apple’s 2.45% notes due 2026 traded 5 bps weaker on Thursday at 86 bps bid, according to a market source.

Apple sold $2.25 billion of the notes (Aa1/AA+/) on July 28 at a spread of 98 bps over Treasuries.

The tranche of 3.85% notes due 2046 firmed 1 bp to 122 bps bid.

The bonds were priced in a $2 billion tranche in the July 28 offering at Treasuries plus 163 bps.

The computer and mobile communications device company is based in Cupertino, Calif.

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