Progressive prices $550 million; Municipality Finance sells floaters; week’s supply thin

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Oct. 18 – Progressive Corp. sold $550 million of long 10-year senior notes on Thursday in the high-grade primary market.

Municipality Finance plc also priced $500 million of two-year floating-rate notes.

Week to date, more than $14 billion of investment-grade bonds have priced, led by Conagra Brands, Inc.’s $7.3 billion seven-part offering of senior notes on Monday.

About $25 billion to $35 billion of supply was expected by market sources for the week.

In other activity during the session, Constellation Brands, Inc. (Baa3/BBB-/) held fixed-income investor calls via BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC.

In addition, Oglethorpe Power Corp. (Baa1//BBB+) began a two-day round of fixed-income investor calls on Thursday via Goldman Sachs and MUFG.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 31 index widened about 3 basis points over the day to a spread of 67 bps.

Bonds were mixed in the secondary market during the session, a source said. Bank and financial paper traded mostly flat to weaker on the day.

Progressive sells $550 million

Progressive sold $550 million of 4% senior notes due March 1, 2029 at 99.828 to yield 4.021% on Thursday, according to an FWP filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The notes due (A2/A/A) priced with a spread of 85 bps over Treasuries.

Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Securities were the bookrunners.

Progressive is an insurance company based in Mayfield Village, Ohio.

Municipality Finance prices

Municipality Finance (Aa1/AA+/) priced $500 million of floating-rate notes due Oct. 26, 2020 at Libor plus 1 bp in the Rule 144A- and Regulation S-eligible offering, according to a market source.

The notes were initially talked to price in the Libor plus 1 bp area.

J.P. Morgan Securities, Nomura Securities International, Inc. and TD Securities (USA) LLC were the lead managers.

Municipality Finance is a Helsinki, Finland-based credit institution that provides funding for the public sector in Finland.

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