Texas Instruments, NextEra tap market; busy pipeline eyed; new issues mostly improve

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., March 1 – The investment-grade primary market remained active for a second consecutive Friday.

Texas Instruments Inc. sold $750 million of notes due March 15, 2039 on the tight side of guidance.

NextEra Energy Capital Holdings Inc. came with $400 million of three-year guaranteed debentures. The company previously was in the primary market on Feb. 22 with an $800 million two-part bond deal.

In other activity on Friday, Leggett & Platt, Inc. (Baa1/BBB) held fixed income investor calls for a possible deal, a source said. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, MUFG, U.S. Bancorp Investments Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities LLC are the arrangers.

More than $24 billion of high-grade bonds have priced week to date, compared to forecasts of about $25 billion to $30 billion.

In the week ahead, syndicate sources expect a busy calendar with volume forecasts of about $25 billion to $30 billion.

“March is usually one of the busiest months for new issue supply, accounting for 11% of annual supply on average since 2010,” BofA Merrill Lynch credit strategist Yunyi Zhang said in a report released on Friday. “However, with a number of issuers front-loading supply into February given strong market tone, as well as heightened reverse Yankee volumes, we expect this March to be lighter than usual.”

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