Ford Motor Credit Sells $3.25 Billion Offering As Corporate-Bond Deals Overshadow Treasurys
NEW YORK -- Bond prices fell as the surge of corporate-bond issuance continued, led by the largest U.S. corporate global-bond offering to date. The bond sales siphoned interest from Treasurys and raised fears among some investors that savvy corporations are selling bonds ahead of rising interest rates.</br></br>The bellwether 30-year Treasury bond fell 12/32, or $3.75 for a bond with $1,000 face value, to 102 11/32. The bond's yield, which moves in the opposite direction of its price, rose to 5.95%.</br></br>A much-awaited bond deal went off without a hitch. Ford Motor Credit Co. sold a $3.25 billion two-part global offering, the largest such deal to date. In all, about $5.4 billion of corporate bonds were sold.</br></br>The Ford deal, underwritten by joint lead managers Salomon Smith Barney Inc. and Bear, Stearns & Co., was increased to $3.25 billion from $2.5 billion because of strong investor demand.</br></br>"There was overwhelming demand globally, with a fairly higher component of European interest than we've seen in the past, and smaller interest from Asia," said Paul Young, a senior syndicate official at Salomon Smith Barney. "The deal validates the large-global-benchmark concept, that investors like these large benchmarks."