High-grade companies rush to tap US debt markets post-Labor Day

Alliancebernstein Holding LP

05/09/2023 15:16

By Matt Tracy
       Sept 5 (Reuters) - Top-rated companies were tapping the
U.S. debt markets on Tuesday, in a widely anticipated post-Labor
Day rush for financing after August's end-of-summer lull.
    At least 21 investment-grade rated companies have already
announced plans to sell bonds on Tuesday morning, according to
Informa Global Markets.
    Among Tuesday's deals are a two-part senior unsecured note
offering from Unilever Capital Corp  ULVR.L , three-part senior
notes from tobacco company Philip Morris International  PM.N 
and a five-part note offering from automaker Volkswagen
 VOWG_p.DE .
    September is typically the second-busiest month for U.S.
debt issuance, according to credit research analysts at JPMorgan
Chase  JPM.N , with an average issuance volume of $129 billion
over the past four years outside 2020.
    The post-Labor Day week has typically accounted for half of
September's IG supply, according to JPMorgan.
    "The busiest day of the year is the day after Labor Day,"
said Hans Mikkelsen, managing director of credit strategy at TD
Securities. The rush of supply would be easily absorbed, he
added.
    "Given higher IG yields, you have a lot of buying interest
from institutional investors," he said.    

 (Reporting by Matt Tracy; editing by Shankar Ramakrishnan and
Nick Zieminski)
 ((Matt.Tracy@thomsonreuters.com;))