Debt Sale Hints at Market Rebound -- WSJ
16 March 2019 - 6:02PM
Dow Jones News
By Sam Goldfarb and Soma Biswas
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (March 16, 2019).
The world's largest maker of automotive batteries is set to sell
more than $10 billion worth of speculative-grade debt to fund its
purchase by an investor-group led by Brookfield Business Partners
LP, underscoring the recent resurgence in demand for low-rated
bonds and loans.
Power Solutions, the automotive-battery business currently owned
by Johnson Controls International PLC, is poised sell roughly $3.7
billion worth of secured and unsecured bonds, denominated in both
dollars and euros, along with around $6.5 billion in loans, also
split between euro and U.S. dollar tranches.
Investors had expected the sale to be completed Friday, but were
told it had been pushed to Monday because banks were still putting
the finishing touches on the transaction by the end of the workday
in London.
Still, the expected completion of the Power Solutions deal is a
testament to the improved tone in high-yield debt markets, several
investors said. Banks this week were able to cut the expected
yields on all of the bonds and loans, an indication that demand had
well outstripped supply, investors said. They were also able to
increase the size of the loan portion of the deal by $1 billion
while decreasing secured bonds by the same amount. That was a
positive sign for private equity-backed companies that typically
prefer to borrow in loans because they are usually easier than
bonds to repay ahead of their scheduled maturities.
Though fears of an economic slowdown led to a sharp decline in
bond and loan sales in the final months of 2018, issuance picked up
in the middle of January and has been fairly steady since then.
Through Wednesday, businesses had sold a total of $106.9 billion
of speculative-grade bonds and loans this year, according to LCD, a
unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. That is down from $162
billion in the same period last year.
Among the multiple pieces of Power Solutions' debt package is an
expected $1.95 billion worth of unsecured bonds due 2027, which
investors late Friday were anticipating will initially yield around
8.5%, down from original guidance of roughly 9.25%. JPMorgan Chase
& Co. was the lead underwriter for the secured dollar bonds and
loans, while Barclays PLC led marketing of the euro debt and Credit
Suisse Group AG was the lead underwriter of the unsecured dollar
bonds.
Some investors cautioned that the likely success of the Power
Solutions deal doesn't necessarily mean other businesses will find
it as easy to sell such a large amount of debt in the current
market. Even using conservative assumptions, analysts say the
company should be able to generate ample free cash flow in the
coming years. Its secured bonds and loans, in particular, appealed
to investors who have been eager to buy debt at the higher end of
the speculative-grade ratings scale.
Not everything about the deal pleased investors. Prospective
buyers were able to modestly strengthen the package of investor
protections, known as covenants, an unusual outcome for such an
in-demand deal. Yet even after the revisions, some said, the
company's owners would still have wide latitude to pay themselves
dividends and remove collateral from the business, in keeping with
the long-term trend toward weaker covenants.
Johnson Controls, an industrial and technology conglomerate with
headquarters in Cork, Ireland, announced in November it was selling
Power Solutions to the Brookfield Business Partners-led group for
$13.2 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close by June
30.
Write to Sam Goldfarb at sam.goldfarb@wsj.com and Soma Biswas at
soma.biswas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 16, 2019 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024