A trio of investment-grade companies were in the market to sell about $1 billion of bonds Tuesday, taking advantage of pent-up demand following the Memorial Day weekend and capping one of the busiest months ever for corporate debt issuance.

Airgas Inc. (ARG), Camden Property Trust and Qwest Corp. together brought an estimated $950 million of bonds, according to people familiar with the transactions, while speculative-grade, or junk-rated, companies had a combined $550 million on tap from Puget Energy and Cinemark USA.

Portfolio managers have soaked up the supply of new bonds despite low rates, partly because the alternatives were less palatable--five-year Treasurys, for example, yield less than 1.7%--but also because they had to put their clients' money to work.

"If you are a corporate issuer it's a great time to come to market now," said Michael Collins, senior investment officer and credit strategist at Prudential Fixed Income. "We should continue to see a lot of supply as long as rates stay low."

Before Tuesday, companies had already sold $95.8 billion of high-grade deals in the U.S. this month, according to data provider Dealogic. That makes this month the fourth-busiest May since at least 1995 but the biggest May ever when excluding banks and other financial-services companies, with $62.4 billion.

Speculative-grade companies, meanwhile, sold $46.17 billion of U.S.-marketed junk bonds so far this month, Dealogic said. That is well ahead of the previous monthly record of $36.3 billion in March 2010.

Airgas, which has been buying back stock and recently acquired Pain Enterprises Inc., a maker and distributor of dry ice and liquid carbon dioxide, priced $250 million of 2.95% five-year notes to yield 2.98%, or 1.30 percentage points over comparable Treasurys.

Camden Property Trust sold $500 million of 10- and 12-year bonds that priced to yield 4.70% and 5%, respectively, or 1.65 and 1.95 percentage points over Treasurys; and Qwest Corp., a subsidiary of internet and telecommunications provider CenturyLink Inc. (CTL), was selling $200 million of 40-year debt, expected to price Wednesday. In the junk bond market, Puget had a $350 million deal and Cinemark a $200 million 10-year bond.

One syndicate manager said he expects companies will offer $10 billion to $15 billion in new high-grade bond sales this week alone.

So thick and fast has corporate debt issuance been, it may be unreasonable to expect it to continue at this pace if interest rates start to rise with the end of the Federal Reserve's second round of quantitative easing, or QE2, in late June. That's why many corporates are looking to tap the market now while rates are still attractive.

QE2 damped volatility in government bonds, to which corporate debt is benchmarked, and if the central bank ceases to be the biggest buyer of U.S. Treasury debt, interest rates could start to creep up from their current near-historic lows. The risk is that a sharp and sudden rise in rates may catch the market by surprise.

For that reason, professional investors are being more selective, to insulate their portfolios against potential rate rises. As bonds' yields rise, their prices fall.

"There is still a lot of cash on the sidelines and that should keep risk assets doing O.K. for a while," said Greg McGreevey, president of Hartford Investment Management Company, which oversees about $160 billion in assets. "But as the government pulls back fiscal stimulus, that lack of support will create a slowdown that will impact corporate spreads."

Kevin Anderson, global chief investment officer of fixed income and currency at State Street Global Advisors, said investors can no longer "buy the market," but need to find and focus on individual corporate bonds that still offer value.

Two examples of investors' being choosy: Tuesday saw strong demand for Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) 3.75% 10-year issue, making it the single most active issue in investment-grade secondary trade Tuesday, according to Andrew Wilkinson, senior market analyst at Interactive Brokers Group.

There was also demand for ArcelorMittal (MT), whose 3.75% bonds fall due in six years time, after the company got the green light for its purchase of German coke producer Kokeri Prosper.

-By Katy Burne, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3084; katy.burne@dowjones.com

--Anusha Shrivastava contributed to this article.

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