AES, UPC dollar deal price to close out March; Charter up on Bright House acquisition news

By Paul A. Harris and Paul Deckelman

New York, March 31 – The high-yield primary sphere closed out the month of March on Tuesday by pricing two quick-to-market, dollar-denominated, fully junk-rated issues totaling $1,375,000,000.

UPC Broadband priced an upsized $800 million offering of 10-year secured notes via a financing subsidiary. That issue was part of a two-part dual-currency deal, whose downsized euro-denominated component will price Wednesday.

And AES Corp.’s $575 million offering of 10-year notes priced at a discount to par and then traded around that issue price in active aftermarket dealings.

The two deals closed out a month that saw some $38,862,000,000 of new dollar-denominated, junk-rated debt price in 55 tranches, according to data compiled by Prospect News. That was up from February’s $31.02 billion in 47 tranches, as well as from the $31,156,000,000 that had gotten done in 68 tranches a year ago.

March’s busy pace of issuance swelled the junk market’s year-to-date total to $88.24 billion, running some 29.4% ahead of the new-deal pace seen at this time last year, according to the data.

Away from the new deals, there was heavy activity in Charter Communications, Inc.’s existing paper, notably the 10-year deal that it priced late last year. Those bonds were up on the news that the company will buy Bright House Networks LLC in a $10 billion transaction.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.