By John Balassi and Mike Gambale
NEW YORK, May 6 (IFR) - Apple and Shell led a full-scalecharge Wednesday into the US corporate bond markets, which wereawaiting a slew of new deals as companies seize on red-hotconditions to raise more capital.
With rates still low and investors clamoring to put theircash piles to work, borrowers steamed into both the high-gradeand high-yield markets offering loads of new debt for sale.
"Most corporate treasurers are opting to go now," one debtsyndicate banker told IFR. "Everyone knows borrowing costs willbe going up later this year."
Apple, the world's largest company by market cap, announceda new seven-part bond intended to help fund dividends and sharebuybacks as part of its US$200bn capital return program.
The deal comes just three months after the Aa1/AA+ ratedtech giant's last foray into the bond market, raising more moneyto give back to activist investors agitating for better returns.
Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell, rated Aa1/AA, also announced anew bond offering, a six-part trade and its first appearance inthe debt capital markets since 2013.
Meanwhile in high-yield, Hospital Corporation of America wasalso out with a new US$1.6bn add-on bond, bigger than theoriginal US$1bn deal that priced less than four months ago.
Burger chain Wendy's is out with a US$2.425bn deal, and aclutch of other trades was expected in both the high-grade andjunk-rated sectors. The issuers moved quickly after reportingearnings.
Both asset classes have been thriving, not least because theFederal Reserve keeps holding rates down - meaning the time toborrow is sooner rather than later.
Wednesday's deals come just a day after pharmaceuticalcompany AbbVie elicited a whopping US$60bn in demand for itsUS$16.7bn high-grade bond offering.
Investors keep pouring money into both the investment-gradeand junk bond markets, which is also helping borrowers ratchetin their funding costs.
High-grade corporate bond funds had seen a net inflow ofnearly US$28bn in new money this year as of the last week inApril, according to data from Lipper US Fund Flows.
High-yield bond funds saw a net increase of more thanUS$10bn in cash over the same period. (Reporting by John Balassi, Mike Gambale and Anthony Rodriguez;Writing by Marc Carnegie; Editing by Natalie Harrison)