Mars announces 8-part bond; headlines big M&A financing week

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Mars issues 8-part bond for Kellanova (K) acquisition

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Bond offering could raise $25-$30 billion, bookrunners say

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Mars bond deal may double M&A bond issuance for 2023, IGM reports

By Shankar Ramakrishnan

March 5 (Reuters) - Family-owned candy giant Mars announced a eight-part investment-grade bond offering on Wednesday to help finance its takeover of Pringles maker Kellanova (K), according to a terms sheet, in what is expected to be one of the largest acquisition financing deals this year.

Bank of America (BAC), BNP Paribas, Citigroup (C/PN) , JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley (MS) and Rabobank were the bookrunners for the offering, which is expected to raise anywhere between $25 to $30 billion, they said. Reuters last week reported the bonds will be announced this week.

According to the term sheet of the offering, Mars, which is offering bonds with maturities that range from two years to 40 years, said it will redeem the notes at a price of 101 if the acquisition was not completed by August 20, 2026.

The Mars bonds headlined what has been a heavy week for acquisition financing. On Monday, design software maker Synopsys (SNPS) raised $10 billion selling six tranches of bonds that had maturities from two years to 30. The bonds would help finance its $34 billion takeover of Ansys (ANSS).

Demand for Synopsys (SNPS) bonds was massive with books covered some three to five times the issuance size, according to Informa Global Markets data.

If Mars raised $25 billion, it would become the eighth largest deal of all time and more than double the amount of M&A-related investment-grade bond issuance for the year, said IGM.

The announcement of the bond was made on a day when markets were relatively stable after a selloff earlier in the week as U.S. President Trump escalated a global trade war on Tuesday by imposing 25% tariffs on top trade partners, Canada and Mexico, citing ineffective border controls. (Reporting by Shankar Ramakrishnan, Editing by Nick Zieminski)