It was all AOL Time Warner this week as the company hit the market with a $6 billion 4-tranche offering. The deal was increased from the original $3 billion size due to heavy demand. AOL Time Warner was the latest example of a company accessing the bond market to term out commercial paper and other short-term borrowing. GECC ($11 billion), Verizon ($2.5 billion), Morgan Stanley ($6 billion) and Credit Suisse First Boston ($2.5 billion) have all done jumbo deals in the past month to replace shorter term borrowing or to pre-fund maturities later in the year.
Total investment grade issuance for the week was $13.4 billion for the week, a decent start to April after March's torrid pace of $67.3 billion. In addition, flows continue to remain supportive as well. The Investment Company Institute released the funds flow data for February, which showed that bond funds took in $8.3 billion, significantly above the $2.0 billion 10-year average.
For additional information, please visit www.CreditSights.com or call 212-340-3888 to speak to a CreditSights representative.