(FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 12/8/14)
By Sarah Krouse
Low interest rates and a resurgence in mergers and acquisitions
this year, particularly big-ticket deals, have companies turning to
the bond market like never before.
Boosted by medical-device maker Medtronic Inc.'s $17 billion
corporate-debt sale last week, companies have issued $206.4 billion
in bonds to fund acquisitions through Dec. 5, according to
Dealogic. That is up nearly 30% from the same period last year and
the highest level ever.
Medtronic's bond deal, which will be used to help finance its
$43 billion purchase of Ireland-based Covidien PLC, is the largest
corporate-bond offering this year.
The average size of U.S.-dollar investment-grade bond sales this
year stands at $996 million, according to Dealogic, the highest
since 2009, when the average deal size was $1 billion.
So far this year global corporate-bond deal volume, excluding
financial institutions, stands at $2.17 trillion, a record year to
date. In addition to Medtronic's deal, Apple Inc. sold $12 billion
of investment-grade debt in April.
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