EBay Auctions Four-Part Bond Deal as Yields Break Record Lows
07/19/2012| 10:12am US/Eastern
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By Patrick McGee
EBay Inc. (>> eBay Inc) is auctioning at least $2 billion worth of debt in a four-part U.S. bond deal Thursday.
This marks just the second time eBay has ever issued bonds. Its first deal, for $1.5 billion, was in October 2010.
EBay should benefit from the lack of competition in this week's new-issue market. Yields are at record lows--Barclays's index of high-grade debt broke the 3% barrier for the first time in four decades of data on Wednesday when yields declined 0.07 percentage points to 2.98%--but issuance has been quiet with most companies focusing on releasing earnings.
Thursday's sale comes a day after the e-commerce and payments company posted its fourth consecutive jump in quarterly profit. EBay said Wednesday its second-quarter revenue climbed 23% to $3.4 billion and profit more than doubled to $692 million from a year earlier.
The San Jose, Calif., company intends to sell bonds across the yield curve, with bonds maturing in three, five, 10, and 30 years. The deal is "benchmark"-sized, according to an early term sheet, indicating at least $500 million per tranche.
Market sources indicate the size could be $3 billion.
The bonds carry provisional ratings of A2 from Moody's Investors Service and A from Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Scott Kimball, portfolio manager at the $7.3 billion BMO TCH Corporate Income Fund in Miami, noted that high-quality bond issuers have been getting an extremely welcome reception recently, with some trading at yields within half a percentage point of Treasurys.
Toyota Motor Credit Corp. (>> TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION) 0.875% coupon bonds due 2015, for instance, traded Thursday morning at a spread of just 0.47 percentage points. They were issued last week at a spread of 0.58 points.
Ebay's 3.25% coupon, 2020 bond traded on July 13 with a spread of 0.75 points to Treasurys, yielding 2.248%, according to MarketAxess.
"The bond market is expecting further economic deterioration and continued [Federal Reserve] action," Mr. Kimball said, mentioning the possibility for another round of monetary easing.
Proceeds from eBay's sale are for general corporate purposes.
Write to Patrick McGee at patrick.mcgee@dowjones.com
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