Moody’s has assigned a Baa2 (stable outlook) rating to UK incumbent BT’s recent US$750m bond and US$500m floating rate notes.
The ratings agency said its grading reflected BT’s position as the largest communications service provider to residential…
Moody’s has assigned a Baa2 (stable outlook) rating to UK incumbent BT’s recent US$750m bond and US$500m floating rate notes.
The ratings agency said its grading reflected BT’s position as the largest communications service provider to residential and business markets in the UK.
Earlier this week, BT priced a 2% US$750m senior bond due June 2015 at 99.986. The pricing generates a yield of 2.005%, equal to a spread of 162.5 basis points over US Treasuries.
The company also priced US$500m of FRNs due December 2013 at par. These notes carry a coupon of 112.5 basis points over three-month LIBOR.
Joint bookrunners for these transactions are Citigroup Global Markets, HSBC Securities (USA), Lloyds Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA) and Mizuho Securities USA.
As well as a Baa2 rating from Moody’s, BT said on 19 June that it expected stable BBB ratings from S&P and Fitch.
In an SEC filing, the company explained: “We will receive net proceeds from this offering of approximately US$1.246bn. We plan to use the net proceeds from the sale of the notes offered hereby for general corporate purposes.”
