At least four companies sold $11 billion in debt on Monday — with Citigroup far-and-away the leader, with its units’ $7-billion note offering of FDIC-insured notes under the government’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.
The Citibank NA and Citigroup Funding Inc. units sold $1.75 billion in 18-month floating rate notes, $1 billion in two-year notes and $750 million in two-year floating rate notes, according to Reuters. Citigroup Funding sold $2.5 billion in three-year floating rate notes and $1 billion in three-year notes.
The next-largest issuer was Time Warner Cable Inc., which sold $3 billion in two parts. The sale covered $2 billion in 10-year notes, priced to yield 8.34 percent, or 570 basis points over comparable Treasuries, and $1 billion in five-year notes, priced to yield 7.613 percent, or 595 points over the benchmark. They were rated Baa2 by Moody’s and BBB-plus by Standard & Poor’s.
The cable company said it will use the proceeds from the sale to repay a 2008 bridge facility that it used to fund, in part, a special dividend in connection with its recent separation from Time Warner Inc. It will use additional funds for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of debt.
Consolidated Edison sold $750 million in a two-part deal, including $275 million in five-year notes and $475 million in 10-year notes.
Elsewhere, Praxair sold $300 million in five-year notes, up from an originally planned $300 million, according to Reuters. They were priced to yield 4.446 percent, or 275 basis points over comparable Treasuries.
It said it plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, which may includethe repayment of outstanding indebtedness, working capital increases and capital expenditures, and acquisitions of companies in a similar line of business.