No pricings as post-holiday market resumes; Charter pitches big bond deal; oils, coal slide

By Paul Deckelman

New York, July 6 – The high-yield market got back to work on Monday following the long Independence Day holiday break – but not much was accomplished.

Junk market activity was restrained, as players stayed on the sidelines following the unexpectedly resounding “no” vote by Greeks to a bailout plan with strong austerity measures attached, a steep decline in oil prices and the usual post-holiday lassitude.

High-yield syndicate sources said no new issues priced in Junkbondland on Monday, and no new deals were announced.

They did hear that Charter Communications Inc. began to market its $13.8 billion offering of new secured and unsecured notes that will be part of the financing for the cable company’s pending acquisitions of TimeWarner Cable Inc. and rival Bright House Networks LLC.

In addition, American Media Inc. said it would consider refinancing options for its 11˝% secured notes due 2017, but announced no concrete plans, and Arcelor Mittal announced the completion of a Swiss franc-denominated notes offering.

The main story in the domestic bond market seemed to be the sharp slide in oil prices, which dragged energy names such as California Resources Corp., SandRidge Energy, Inc. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. lower.

Commodity price weakness, spurred by economic worries, also pushed the likes of coal operator Peabody Energy Corp. and iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. down.

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