BMO prices $1.75 billion; Harley-Davidson taps primary; high-grade credit spreads firm

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Jan. 31 – Bank of Montreal and Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Inc. tapped the investment-grade primary market on Thursday.

Bank of Montreal priced $1.75 billion of five-year senior medium-term notes.

Harley-Davidson Financial Services sold $550 million of three-year senior medium-term notes.

Also during the session, the Province of Ontario priced a C$950 million add-on to its 2.65% green bonds due Feb. 5, 2025 that were first priced in January 2018. The total outstanding now for the issue registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission is C$1.95 billion.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 31 index firmed another 3 basis points on Thursday to a spread of 67 bps. The index tightened about 3 bps on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged following its two-day monetary policy meeting.

For the week ended Wednesday, Lipper US Fund Flows reported inflows of $34 million for corporate investment-grade funds.

High-grade deal volume slowed mid-week but is ending with more than $17 billion of corporate bond issuance week to date.

In the secondary market, Fox Corp.’s 4.709% notes due 2029 priced earlier in the month were unchanged but quoted nearly 40 bps better than issuance.

Morgan Stanley’s new 4.431% global medium-term fixed-to-floating-rate senior notes due 2030 headed out flat in secondary trading. The issue is trading nearly 30 bps better than where it priced mid-month.

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