Benzinga Daily Bond Market Briefing : A Slew OF New Issues

U.K. Premier League soccer club Manchester United has launched a £500 million ($801.4 million), seven-year high-yield bond that will be used to refinance existing debt, banks working on the deal said today. J. P. Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM-B), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(NYSE:GS), Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC(LON:RBS) and KKR Financial are joint-lead managers on the deal. The senior, secured bond will be issued by the club's subsidiary, MU Finance PLC. The deal is expected to be priced towards the end of next week. Source Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a new kangaroo bond issue due in January 2015, a joint lead said today. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, RBC Capital Markets and UBS are jointly leading the offer. The issue will be for at least $500 million ($US464 million) of fixed rate notes at a margin of 26-27 basis points over swap or 73 basis points over the Australian government bond due 2015, according to a source who has seen the terms. Source According to local press reports, Croatian oil group INA is to tap the market with a convertible bond in the coming months that would allow Hungary’s MOL to boost its 47.2% stake to over 50%. The government, though is against such plans. INA is likely to issue a EUR 200 million (USD 286.4 m) bond. The funds would be used to clear the company's tax debt to the state and finance its operations. Meanwhile, Poland raised 3 billion euros ($4.3 billion) in its biggest offering of euro-denominated bonds in four years as it seeks to finance a growing budget deficit, according to a banker involved in the financing. The 15-year securities, Poland’s longest dated international bonds in euros since 2007, were priced to yield 148 basis points more than the midswap rate, said the banker, who declined to be identified before the deal is completed. Source The Thai government also plans to sell savings bonds worth about 50-80 billion baht ($1.5-2.4 billion) towards the end of the first quarter, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Monday. "Our policy is clear, that we will issue savings bonds, which should be done late in the first quarter," Korn told reporters, adding the bonds would be mainly for retail investors and savers. Other details would be decided later, he said. The government has announced plans to sell 170 billion baht of savings bonds in the current fiscal year starting Oct. 1 to help finance its budget deficit and stimulus spending.. Source India is also pitching for infrastructure bonds for non-resident Indians (NRIs). Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday, pitched for infrastructure bonds in different currencies, specially suited to NRIs, for raising resources for building roads in India. “I would request the Finance Minister (Pranab Mukherjee) to look at issuance of infrastructure bonds in different currencies and denominations specifically for people of Indian origin and NRIs,” Mr. Nath said at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2010, calling upon the NRIs to invest in India. Source Finance Ministry has declared plans to issue state bonds in the amount of AZN 1.3 bn this year which is AZN 100 mln higher than the forecast for 2009. According to the state committee for equities, the prospect of state obligations was registered last week. The Finance Ministry offers to issue short-term securities (1,3,6,12 months) at AZN 1.1 bn and middle-term (2 and 3 years) for AZN 100 mln. The plan was the same last year though the finance ministry placed state bonds just at AZN 503 mln. Source Back in USA, the Federal Farm Credit Funding Corp (FFCB) plans to sell new three-year designated bonds through the Federal Farm Credit Banks Consolidated Systemwide Bond Program. The bonds will mature on Feb. 21, 2013 and the size has yet to be determined. FFCB said it hired Barclays, HSBC and UBS to manage the sale. Source