A First

These are difficult times and, as the expression goes, there is a first time for everything. Last week, A.P. Moeller – Maersk A/S (“Maersk”) successfully placed a EUR 750 million ($1.3 billion) five-year bond with a coupon of 4.875%, which equates to 237bps over German government debt, according to Pareto.  This is the company’s first bond issuance and was 6.5 times oversubscribed.

Proceeds from the offering will be used for general corporate purposes and for repayment of drawings under longer-term bank revolving facilities that will be retained as liquidity buffers.

This transaction follows a recent equity offering of $1.7billion evidencing that even for the best there is never enough liquidity.

Danske Bank, HSBC, ING, J.P. Morgan and Nordea placed the bonds, which will be listed in Copenhagen and Luxembourg.