CORP SNAPSHOT: Three issuers/seven tranches get week off to a flier

The European IG corporate market is seeing last week’s fast issuance pace continue into the new week, as issuers make the most of what is left of the shrinking 2024 issuance window.

Three more are out on Monday with a combined seven tranches in the form of opportunistic US names Booking Holdings Inc (EUR 8/13/long 20yr three-part) and National Grid North America Inc (EUR 5/10yr two-part), as well as previously pipelined debut French name Roquette Freres SA (EUR 7yr senior/PNC5.25 hybrid two-part).

On top of Monday’s live trio we have seen a further five corporates announce trades for later in the week, namely Abertis Infraestructuras S.A (EUR PNC5.25 hybrid), SNAM S.p.A (EUR 7yr &/or 12yr SLB), Goodman European Logistics Fund (exp EUR300m 7yr green), WORLDLINE (EUR 5yr) and Prysmian S.p.A (EUR 4/7yr two-part).

Given that activity, the average supply estimate of EUR9bn for euro corporate (ex-HY) supply this week already looks well in reach.

Monday's US duo is out after four reverse yankee issuers contributed to what was the euro IG corporate sector’s third busiest week of 2024 last week.

As a reminder, the final haul finished up at a huge EUR17.95bn (16 issuers & 25 tranches), meaning we smashed even the highest estimate of EUR12.5bn out the park.

Senior, hybrid and green paper was all on the menu, with the latter trades pushing euro corporate ESG supply to a new annual record.

Exhibiting that it very much remains a seller’s market, as it has for almost all of 2024, last week’s issuers paid an average NIC of just 3.45bps, with a handful pricing with zero or even negative premiums.

On a note of caution to this weeks issuers though, we did see acute drops in some of the orderbooks last week as investors put up some resistance to tight pricing levels.

Combined demand peaked at EUR73.8bn before settling at EUR56.505bn.

See the IGM CORP WEEKLY for a full recap of last week’s activities.

Booking Holdings goes big again

** US travel technology company Booking Holdings Inc (A3/A-) is out this morning with an SEC-registered EUR three-part benchmark across 8yr, 13yr and long 20y tenors. Joint Active Bookrunners are Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and JP Morgan

IPTs:

EUR Nov 2032 benchmark at m/s +140 area

EUR Nov 2037 benchmark at m/s +165-170

EUR Mar 2045 benchmark at m/s +200 area

• Expected issue ratings are A3 (Stable) / A- (Stable) by (Moody’s / S&P)
• Funds generated from the transaction are to be used for general corporate purposes, including to repurchase shares of common stock and to redeem or repay outstanding indebtedness
• Booking Holdings has been a regular visitor to the euro market in recent times, having issued ten lines worth EUR8bn since the start of 2022
• Four of those lines came in Feb this year when it printed a EUR500m 3.5% Mar 2029 (+67 bid ahead of new trade), EUR650m 3.625% Mar 2032 (+92 bid), EUR850m 3.75% Mar 2036 (+123 bid) and EUR750m 4% Mar 2044 (+156 bid) four-part
• No official comps list were circulated to us ahead of the new offering due to its SEC-registered nature, but looking at screen quotes this morning we saw the starting NICs in the region of 35-40bps apiece

National Grid North America

** US utility National Grid North America Inc (Baa2/BBB) this morning hired Bank of China, HSBC, Lloyds and Santander as Joint Bookrunners for a EUR 5yr and 10yr RegS dual-tranche benchmark transaction

IPTs:

Exp EUR500m Nov 2029s at m/s +135 area

Exp EUR500m Nov 2034s at m/s +175 area

• Proceeds from the bonds are to be used for general corporate purposes
• National Grid North America already has a well-stocked euro curve, and has tapped the market already once this year for EUR1.5bn via a Sep 2031 & Sep 2036 two-part in Aug which attracted combined demand of EUR3.8bn
• Referencing the comps (below) as a whole and we saw the starting NICs on each tranche at around 35bps. One source close to the trade said they broadly agreed

€€€ National Grid North America - 5yr + 10yr Bonds | Comparables €€€

Indicative pre-announcement secondaries vs I-spread (bid)

Issuer Rating (M/S/F) Coupon Size (€m) Issue Dt. Maturity Years to Mat I-Sprd

National Grid NA Baa2 / BBB / - 0.410% 500 Jan-22 Jan-26 1.2 +51

National Grid NA Baa2 / BBB / - 4.151% 500 Sep-23 Sep-27 2.8 +71

National Grid NA Baa2 / BBB / - 1.054% 500 Jan-22 Jan-31 6.2 +116

National Grid NA Baa2 / BBB / - 3.631% 700 Aug-24 Sep-31 6.8 +115

National Grid NA Baa2 / BBB / - 4.668% 500 Sep-23 Sep-33 8.8 +139

National Grid NA Baa2 / BBB / - 4.061% 800 Aug-24 Sep-36 11.8 +154

Roquette Freres makes EUR debut amid M&A activity

** Roquette Freres SA (BBB), a French family-owned global leader in plant-based ingredients and a provider of pharmaceutical excipients, mandated BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB and Societe Generale as Global Coordinators along with CIC, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, HSBC, JP Morgan, and Natixis as Active Bookrunners to arrange a series of fixed income investor meetings on 12-14 Nov. An inaugural EUR benchmark 7yr senior unsecured notes offering and debut EUR PNC5.25 hybrid benchmark is now live

IPTs:

Exp EUR500m 7yr (Nov 2031) senior benchmark at m/s +190-200

Exp EUR500m PNC5.25 (non-call Feb 2030) hybrid benchmark at 5.875-6%

• Roadshow concluded last Thursday with over 80 accounts engaged in virtual meetings. Going forward, as the company will be active in the public bond market, the company announced it will publish financial results semi-annually, and organise an annual & semi-annual fixed income investor call to communicate on strategy and figures
• Senior notes are expected to be rated BBB by S&P and the hybrid BB+, also by S&P
• The estimated net proceeds of the issue of the notes will be used for the refinancing of, or replacement of the remaining available commitments under, the bridge acquisition facility granted to the Issuer pursuant to a bridge facility agreement entered into by the issuer with some of the Joint Bookrunners or their affiliates in the context of the ~USD2.85bn acquisition of most of the business, operations and activities of IFF’s Pharma Solutions segment, and in the case of senior notes only, and/or other facilities already used by the issuer for general corporate purposes
• With this being a debut offering, fair value is not easy to pinpoint, with leads highlighting the compass of sector peers as comparables (see below). Initial feedback from the roadshow was said to be coming in the context of mid/high 100's for the senior and mid/high 5%'s for the hybrid

* Ingredients sector *

GIVNVX -/A-/- 2.000 Sep-30 5.9 +75

GIVNVX -/A-/- 1.625 Apr-32 7.5 +90

KYGID Baa1/BBB+/- 0.625 Sep-29 4.9 +51

KYGID Baa1/BBB+/- 0.875 Dec-31 7.1 +80

KYGID Baa1/BBB+/- 3.375 Mar-33 8.3 +103

* Pharma sector *

LONNVX -/BBB+/- 3.250 Sep-30 5.8 +86

LONNVX -/BBB+/- 3.875 May-33 8.5 +110

LONNVX -/BBB+/- 3.500 Sep-34 9.8 +120

SDZSW Baa2/BBB/- 3.250 Sep-29 4.8 +89

SDZSW Baa2/BBB/- 4.220 Apr-30 5.4 +98

SDZSW Baa2/BBB/- 4.500 Nov-33 9.0 +125

* Chemical sector *

AKZANA Baa2/BBB/WD 1.625 Apr-30 5.4 +92

AKZANA Baa2/BBB/WD 4.000 May-33 8.5 +121

AKEFP Baa1/BBB+/- 4.250 May-30 5.5 +95

AKEFP Baa1/BBB+/- 3.500 Jan-31 6.2 +105

AKEFP Baa1/BBB+/- 3.500 Sep-34 9.8 +131

* Agri & flavouring private companies *

CARGIL A2/A/A 3.875 Apr-30 5.5 +89

BARY -/BBB/- 4.000 Jun-29 4.6 +117

VITRRA Baa1/BBB- *+/BBB *+ 1.000 Sep-28 3.9 +89

Select EUR Hybrids *

Rating Coupon Reset Date Years to Reset Size I-sprd Reset Spread YTR Price Issue Date Approx. Snr/sub

AKEFP Baa3/BBB-/- 4.800% 25-03-2029 4.4y 400m 199 204 4.218% 102.25 Mar-24 124

FCDF -/BB+/BBB-(EXP) 4.850% 23-01-2030 5.2y 300m 279 285 4.965% 99.73 Oct-24 194

ACFP -/BB/BB 7.250% 11-04-2029 4.4y 500m 214 411 4.458% 111.20 Oct-23 109

ACFP -/BB/BB 4.875% 06-09-2030 5.8y 500m 243 267 4.654% 101.33 Sep-24 113

* Additional select EUR 2024 Hybrids *

Rating Coupon Reset Date Years to Reset Size I-sprd Reset Spread YTR Price Issue Date Approx. Snr/sub

PROXBB Baa3/BB+/- 4.750% 02-10-2031 6.9y 700m 251 241 4.812% 99.87 Oct-24 156

ALOFP Ba2/-/- 5.868% 29-08-2029 4.8y 750m 274 293 4.963% 103.75 May-24 179

Five more mandate

** Spanish toll road management company Abertis Infraestructuras S.A (BBB-/BBB) has mandated BNP Paribas and J.P Morgan as Global Coordinators to arrange a series of fixed-income investor calls on 18-Nov. A EUR PNC5.25 benchmark deeply subordinated hybrid issue with an expected rating of BB and BB+ by S&P and Fitch is expected to follow. New issue proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including the refinancing of existing debt within the group. Concurrently, Abertis is conducting a tender offer for its outstanding EUR1.25bn undated 5.25yr non-call deeply subordinated guaranteed fixed rate reset securities with the first call date on 24-Nov-2025

** Italian utility SNAM S.p.A (Baa2/BBB+/BBB+) has mandated BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs International to arrange a series of fixed income investor calls on 18-Nov. A senior unsecured benchmark sustainability-linked offering across EUR 7yr and/or GBP 12yr tenors is expected to follow. The Joint Lead Managers on the notes will be Banca Akros, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, Citi, Goldman Sachs International, IMI – Intesa Sanpaolo, ING, J.P Morgan, Mediobanca, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, SMBC and UniCredit. The net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes. The company recently presented its Transition Plan defining its decarbonization roadmap to Net Zero, that is available here. The SLB framework and SPO are also available here. Official comps for the potential offering can be found here

** Luxembourg-headquartered Goodman European Logistics Fund (Baa1/BBB+), a leading European property partnership investing in logistics real estate, has mandated BNP PARIBAS, HSBC, ING and NatWest Markets as Active bookrunners to host a series of investor calls commencing 18-19 Nov. A EUR300m (exp) 7yr green senior unsecured bond offering may follow. Use of proceeds will be used for eligible green projects as defined in the issuer’s green finance framework. Comps here

** France’s WORLDLINE (BBB-), a world leader in payment services, has mandated BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley as Global Coordinators to arrange a series of investor calls 18-19 Nov. A EUR 5yr fixed rate senior unsecured benchmark transaction may follow. The net proceeds from the issuance of the notes will be applied by the issuer for general corporate purposes, which may include in whole or in part refinancing of existing indebtedness, including its outstanding OCEANE’s EUR600m 0% Jul 2025 and/or EUR800m 0% Jul 2026 Convertible/Exchangeable Bonds

** Italy’s Prysmian S.p.A (BBB-), a global leader in cable systems for energy and telecommunications, mandated BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, Citi, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC and IMI-Intesa Sanpaolo as Joint Bookrunners, to organize a series of fixed-income investor calls 18-19 Nov. A dual-tranche EUR 4yr and 7yr benchmark senior unsecured transaction under Prysmian’s newly established EUR3bn EMTN Programme will follow. Net estimated proceeds of the transaction will be used for the refinancing of the bridge acquisition facilities entered into by Prysmian in the context of the acquisition of Encore Wire. Comps here

Performance tracker of recent EUR IG/split-rated benchmark deals

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