US DTH giant DirecTV has sold its first euro-denominated bond to take advantage of increasing yield discounts compared with dollar notes.
The company priced €500m of 2.75% senior notes due 2023 at 99.441, representing a yield of 2.815%.
It was priced…
US DTH giant DirecTV has sold its first euro-denominated bond to take advantage of increasing yield discounts compared with dollar notes.
The company priced €500m of 2.75% senior notes due 2023 at 99.441, representing a yield of 2.815%.
It was priced 120 basis points above the benchmark mid-swap rate, which is below the 125-130 basis points it was reported to have initially targeted.
Barclays, BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and RBS are joint book-running managers.
Co-managers are Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Banco Santander, Citigroup, Credit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Lloyds, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, Mizuho, SMBC Nikko Capital Markets, UBS, US Bancorp Investments and Wells Fargo.
DirecTV said proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes that may include reducing debt, financing acquisitions or share repurchases.
Moody’s assigned a Baa2 rating to the new bond.
The move comes amid a growing number of US companies tapping the European market, as the yield spread between euro and dollar bonds is reported to have widened to its biggest difference in three years.
Other large US companies to have been drawn to the low euro corporate bond rates recently include AT&T, Ford and Microsoft.
DirecTV last tapped bond investors in January, when it priced US$750m of senior five-year 1.75% notes at 99.127 to yield 1.934%.
Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and RBC Capital Markets were joint book-running managers for the previous offering.
The DTH operator frequently visits the bond markets and, before recent issue, had around US$17.9bn of total debt, mostly in dollar-denominated notes.
Meanwhile, the company is thought to be on the verge of ordering a new satellite for Brazilian subsidiary Sky Brasil, which will help the group cater for soaring capacity demand in the region.
