Banc One Markets $500M of Debt

Banc One Corp. issued $500 million of 30-year debt late last week.

The sizable deal, underwritten by CS First Boston and Lehman Brothers, came to market at a generally favorable time for bank debt, and it illustrates the Columbus, Ohio, bank company's continued use of debt with a broad range of maturities.

"Banc One has done a pretty creditable job accessing funding throughout the yield curve, which appears to make sense given that there is a fairly flat yield curve beyond 10 years," said Matt Burnell, a bank bond analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co.

Banc One had issued $300 million of 30-year paper last year, which traded within a narrow band during the intervening period.

"There's strong demand for corporate debt at the moment," said John Works, a bank bond analyst at J.P. Morgan & Co. "Banc One is fulfilling an investor need."

The company's bonds were rated A1 by Moody's Investors Service and A- plus by Standard & Poor's.

The 30-year noncallable deal was expected to be priced at 80 basis points over comparable Treasuries.

"Banc One is taking advantage of what is an extremely favorable environment for bond market technicals," Mr. Works said.

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