US IG WRAP-High-grade braces for big week ahead

By Danielle Robinson

NEW YORK, April 17 (IFR) - US banks lived up to expectations and raised US$9bn of capital securities and senior unsecured debt after announcing earnings this week, and more is likely in the week ahead.

Syndicate desks are seeing about US$15bn-US$25bn in the calendar, with the wide range a result of whether desks were counting emerging market names.

"Next week will definitely pick up as more companies come out of earnings blackout," said one syndicate manager. "There are also some financials out there that haven't come yet."

Deals by JP Morgan, Bank of America (Swiss: BAC.SW - news) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) helped get the week's issuance tally to US$21.38bn.

Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) also announced earnings but typically comes to market after its quarterly fixed-income investor call, scheduled for Thursday April 23. Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) announces earnings on Monday.

Demand is strong for bank paper, especially for Tier 2 and Tier 1 capital securities.

BAC received US$14.5bn of demand for its US$5bn offering of senior unsecured and 10 and 30-year subordinated notes, JPM saw US$4bn for its US$2bn 5.3% perpetual non-call five preferred Tier 1s and Goldman got US$5bn for its US$2bn 5.375% perp non-call fives.

All were trading better on Friday, despite US equities plunging several hundred points on news that Chinese regulators had moved to clamp down on margin trading in its equity market.

"This week's deals have held in really well in spite of equities," said one syndicate manager, noting that BAC's US$500m 30-year sub-debt tranche was 10bp tighter than at issue.

"But we would need to see a more permanent positive tone going into next week to see a lot of deals."

In other news on Friday, there were reports that Teva Pharmaceuticals is considering a possible bid for Mylan (Berlin: 6MY.BE - news) , which would complicate Mylan's US$28.9bn bid for Perrigo.

In response, Mylan said it is fully committed to its stand-alone strategy, including its plan to buy Perrigo.

Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable (Xetra: T3W1.DE - news) shares plunged 7% and Comcast Corp's stock slipped 3% on Friday on reports that US antitrust lawyers were leaning against their planned merger. (Reporting by Danielle Robinson; Editing by Natalie Harrison and Marc Carnegie)