Bristol-Myers, Republic Services, Vereit, ConEd, Entergy, Ameren price; credit spreads firm

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Nov. 9 – The investment-grade primary market roared back to life on Monday with more than $12 billion of high-grade issues sold over the session.

Volume was led by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s $7 billion of registered senior notes (A2/A+/) that priced in six fixed-rate tranches. The company dropped a tranche of floating-rate notes from the final offering.

Republic Services, Inc. sold $1.1 billion of fixed-rate notes (Baa2/BBB+/BBB) in two tranches.

Vereit Operating Partnership LP priced $1.2 billion of guaranteed senior notes (Baa3/BBB-/BBB) in two tranches during the session.

Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. sold $1 billion of five-year senior medium-term notes (A3/A/A) on Monday.

Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc. tapped the primary market with $600 million of 40-year debentures (Baa1/A-/A-).

Entergy Louisiana LLC sold $600 million of collateral trust mortgage bonds (A2/A/) in two tranches.

Ameren Illinois Co. priced $375 million of 10-year first mortgage bonds (A1/A/) on Monday.

Westpac Banking Corp. also offered subordinated notes (Baa1/BBB-/BBB) in two tranches on Monday.

In other supply, Public Storage sold $150 million of $25-par preferred shares (A3/BBB+/).

In addition, Fannie Mae priced $4 billion of five-year Benchmark Notes.

Last week, high-grade issuance totaled just $2.5 billion from a four-part offering of notes (Baa1/A-/BBB+) from Waste Management, Inc.

About $25 billion to $30 billion of high-grade supply is expected in the primary market this week with issuance anticipated to be front-loaded ahead of Wednesday’s Veterans Day holiday, syndicate sources said.

Market tone was mixed over the day as legal challenges continue in the U.S. presidential election.

Stocks pulled back from early gains after climbing over the morning on Pfizer Inc.’s announcement that a vaccine candidate has been more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infections in a trial study.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 2.95% and the S&P 500 improved 1.17%, while the Nasdaq softened 1.53%.

The iShares iBoxx Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF declined 0.76% to $135.16.

The PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Bond index softened 0.63% to $115.10.

Investment-grade credit spreads tightened 8 basis points on Monday after closing out Friday more than 12 bps tighter on the week.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 35 index firmed to a spread of 51.28 bps on Monday from 52.98 bps on Friday.

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