By Patrick McGee America Movil SAB de CV (AMOV) sold $2 billion of bonds in 10- and 30-year maturities Monday, according to a person familiar with the deal. The Mexican wireless services provider sold $1.25 billion of 3.125% coupon, 10-year bonds at a yield of 3.185%, or 1.68 percentage points over Treasurys, and $750 million of 4.375% coupon, 30-year bonds at a yield of 4.482%, or 1.88 points over Treasurys. The bonds have provisional ratings of A2 from Moody's Investors Service, A-minus from Standard & Poor's, and A from Fitch Ratings, reflecting some of the highest ratings on a pure corporate bond in Latin America. Bankers familiar with the transaction said orders were heavily driven by U.S. investment-grade accounts, which are increasingly looking at bonds from high-quality foreign companies as a way to pick up extra yield. The bankers said America Movil stacks up favorably against better-known companies like AT&T Inc. (T) or Vodafone Group (VOD) in terms of better margins, better growth, and less leverage. Yet AT&T 10-year bonds, which carry the same rating from all three ratings firms, last traded at a yield of 2.52%, according to MarketAxess. That means America Movil investors can pick up 66.3 basis points of extra yield on 10-year paper, without moving down the credit spectrum or taking on currency risk. When the company last sold 10- and 30-year U.S. dollar bonds, in March 2010, it paid coupons of 5% and 6.125%, according to Dealogic. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were lead underwriters on the deal, with support from Citigroup, Mitsubishi UFJ, and Mizuho. Write to Patrick McGee at patrick.mcgee@dowjones.com
