(FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 5/18/15)
By Stephen Grocer
Companies are turning to the capital markets at a record pace to
fund acquisitions.
So far this year, buyers have raised $159 billion in debt and
$47.3 billion in equity to fund purchases, according to Dealogic.
Both are highs for the first 4 1/2 months of the year and easily
exceed previous records: $112 billion of debt in 2009 and $35
billion of equity in 2007.
Health-care deal making has driven much of the surge in M&A
financing. So far this year, Actavis PLC sold $21 billion of
corporate bonds to fund its purchase of Allergan Inc.; AbbVie Inc.
raised $16.7 billion through a bond sale to support its pending
acquisition of Pharmacyclics Inc.; and Merck & Co. sold $8
billion of bonds for its purchase of Cubist Pharmaceuticals
Inc.
Overall, the sector has announced $244.3 billion in mergers and
acquisitions this year and has raised $78.3 billion in debt and
$12.9 billion in equity to fund those deals, according to Dealogic.
Both are record amounts for the sector through the first 4 1/2
months of the year.
Acquirers have announced $1.47 trillion in deals world-wide in
2015, a 30% increase from the same period last year and the highest
total since 2007.
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