Capital Markets: Another Three Months, Another $10 Billion
For the second quarter in a row, Texas companies raised more than $10 billion through debt and equity offerings. The second-quarter total of $10.97 billion was up 3% from the first-quarter figure and 22% from the same period in 1996, according to figures compiled by Securities Data Corp. of Newark, N.J., and provided by Chas. P. Young, a Houston financial printer.</br></br>Once again, debt accounted for the bulk of the money raised. With interest rates stable and still enticingly low, Texas firms scurried to issue more than $7.9 billion in bonds, a 10% increase from the first quarter and more than double the $3.5 billion issued during last year's second quarter.</br></br>With its April 9 issue of $2.5 billion of notes and debentures in six deals, J.C. Penney Co. issued more debt than any other Texas company in the second quarter. Interest rates on those bonds ranged from 6.95% to 8.13%.</br></br>Another series of large debt offerings came from Irving-based Associates Corp. of North America, a financial-services concern, which issued $1.51 billion in bonds, including a pair of $500 million senior-note deals.</br></br>The fastest-growing sector, in terms of the value of deals, was initial public offerings, with 13 companies taking the plunge, led by Santa Fe International Corp., a Dallas provider of construction services, and Hanover Compressor Co., a Houston provider of equipment-rental services. Santa Fe's $798 million offering of 28 million common shares accounted for nearly two-thirds of the $1.29 billion in second-quarter IPOs. By comparison, during the first quarter, only eight Texas companies went public, raising $219 million in capital. The smallest IPO this time: NEI Webworld Inc., a Dallas publisher with a $5.5 million offering.