United Rentals two-parter, CenturyLink price; Valeant upsizes; funds lose $1.96 billion

By Paul A. Harris and Paul Deckelman

New York, March 12 – After a hiatus of several days, opportunistically timed drive-by deals returned to the junk bond market on Thursday, accounting for most of the $2.68 billion that priced during the session.

That included the day’s big deal, a $1.8 billion two-part offering of secured eight-year notes and unsecured 10-year paper from United Rentals Inc. The new paper was seen having firmed slightly in the aftermarket.

CenturyLink Inc. also came to market with a quickly shopped deal, pricing $500 million of 10-year notes. They were among the most actively traded credits in Junkbondland on Thursday, although they remained around their issue price.

The news that Endo International plc was making a competing acquisition bid for Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. did not scare off Salix’s original suitor, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., which is shopping around a four-part megadeal to fund its purchase – quite the contrary. On Thursday, Valeant increased the size of its big deal to an even $10 billion equivalent. The deal is said to be several times oversubscribed, with pricing expected on Friday.

Statistical indicators of junk market performance turned higher across the board on Thursday.

High-yield mutual funds and exchange-traded funds saw their first net outflow this week after six straight weeks of inflows. Almost $2 billion more was said to have left the funds than came into them in the latest week.

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