Equinix, LifePoint, ABC, Constellation lead $3 billion day; Sally softens; funds lose $1.36 billion

By Paul Deckelman and Paul A. Harris

New York, Nov. 19 – Activity in the high-yield primary arena ramped up on Thursday as six issuers brought a total of just under $3 billion of new U.S. dollar-denominated, fully junk-rated paper to market – four times the $750 million which got done in one tranche on Wednesday.

It was, in fact, the busiest new-issue session Junkbondland had seen since Nov. 3, when $7 billion of such new paper from domestic or industrialized-country issuers had priced.

The big deal of the day was interconnection and data center operator Equinix Inc.’s upsized $1.1 billion of 10-year notes.

There were also somewhat smaller quick-to-market transactions involving healthcare services provider LifePoint Health, Inc., alcoholic beverage supplier Constellation Brands, Inc. and building materials company ABC Supply Co., Inc.

Off the forward calendar, oil and natural gas operator American Energy-Permian Basin LLC finally priced its $530 million five-year secured notes, one full month after the deal first surfaced in the junk market.

Traders saw slightly lower levels, though also on busy volume, in Wednesday’s 10-year offering from Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc.

Away from the new deals, Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s bonds plunged in active trading on lower oil prices, leading the whole sector down.

Meanwhile, high-yield mutual funds and exchange-traded funds – considered a reliable barometer of overall junk market liquidity trends – showed major net redemptions by investors for a second straight reporting week, as some $1.357 billion more left those weekly-only reporting funds in the latest week than came into them.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.