Morgan Stanley sells $7.3 bln debt,most by sec firm
Reuters, 03.27.02, 4:29 PM ET
forbes.com
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley said on Wednesday it sold $7.3 billion of global bonds in the largest bond sale ever conducted by a securities firm, the latest company to complete a jumbo bond sale before the Federal Reserve pushes interest rates and borrowing costs higher,
Expectations of a rate hike by June as the U.S. economy recovers have contributed to more than $68 billion of U.S. investment-grade corporate bond issuance this month, which analysts call the busiest month since October. This includes $28.8 billion of sales from General Electric Co. (nyse: GE - news - people), Sprint Corp. (nyse: GE - news - people), Weyerhaeuser Co. (nyse: GE - news - people) and now Morgan Stanley.
"It's smart" to issue, said Marjorie Grace, who helps invest $3 billion for Wells Capital Management in Denver, but did not buy the bonds, although she likes Morgan Stanley as a credit. "If I were a CFO of a company and could lock in such low rates, I would be doing the same thing."
Morgan Stanley's sale came one day after the firm, which also owns the Discover credit card, posted a 21 percent first-quarter profit decline, its sixth straight quarterly drop, because of weak merger activity and stock market jitters that kept brokerage clients from buying more shares. |
