微軟發行200億美元債券爲收購領英籌資
Microsoft jolted fixed income investors to life on Monday when it sold nearly $20bn of debt to fund its takeover of social network LinkedIn, the fifth largest corporate bond sale on record.
本週一，爲了給收購社交網絡領英(LinkedIn)提供資金，微軟(Microsoft)發行了近200億美元債券，其規模在企業債券發行史上排名第五，爲固定收益投資人注入一劑強心針。
The sale from the triple-A rated company, one of only two US corporates to hold the opinion from Standard & Poor’s, was met with intense demand as portfolio managers search out income. Trillions of dollars of sovereign and corporate debt are currently trading with a yield below zero.
作爲美國僅有的兩家獲標普(Standard & Poor’s)AAA評級的企業之一，微軟此次發售債券獲得了尋求收益的投資組合經理的熱烈歡迎。當前有數萬億美元主權和企業債券都是在零利率以下交易的。
The US software maker, which agreed to a $26bn acquisition of LinkedIn in June as part of chief executive Satya Nadella’s efforts to revitalise growth, issued $19.75bn of debt with seven maturities, according to three people familiar with the deal.
據該交易的三名知情人表示，微軟此次發行的債券分七種年限，發行規模爲197.5億美元。這家美國軟件製造商在今年6月同意以260億美元收購領英，這是微軟首席執行官薩蒂亞•納德拉(Satya Nadella)爲恢復增長作出的努力的一部分。
Order books for the Microsoft sale eclipsed $50bn, the three people said, with demand strongest for 10- and 30-year paper. The sale, which ranks behind offerings from Verizon, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Actavis and Dell, was composed of fixed-rate notes maturing in between three and 40 years.
微軟此次債券發行認購規模超過500億美元，需求最強的爲10年期和30年期的債券。此次債券爲固定收益率，到期年限在3年期至40年期之間，發行規模僅次於Verizon、百威英博(Anheuser-Busch InBev)、阿特維斯(Actavis)和戴爾(Dell)。
The transaction included $4bn of 10-year notes, which priced with a yield 90 basis points above the benchmark US Treasury, or roughly 2.42 per cent. New 30-year bonds priced with a yield of 3.73 per cent, 5 bps above existing debt that matures in 2045.
該交易包括40億美元10年期債券，利率高於基準美國國債90個基點，約爲2.4%。此次新發30年期債券利率爲3.73%，較2045年到期的現有債券高出5個基點。
Both S&P and Moody’s affirmed their triple-A opinions of Microsoft on Monday despite the significant increase in the company’s debt burden.
儘管微軟債務負擔明顯加重，但標普和穆迪(Moody’s)在週一都再次重申對微軟的AAA級評級。
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo led the underwriting of the sale.
美銀美林(Bank of America Merrill Lynch)、摩根大通(JPMorgan)和富國銀行(Wells Fargo)牽頭此次債券發行工作。
