(Bloomberg) -- McDonald’s Corp. sold its first Swiss franc-denominated bond since 2016, with the deal coming in the wake of an E. coli outbreak and disappointing third-quarter results.
The fast-food chain sold 550 million Swiss francs ($624 million) of bonds due in four and eight years, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. The company’s last bond sold in the currency matured last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The offering comes two weeks after McDonald’s reported sales that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations amid weakness in international markets such as France, China, the UK and the Middle East. The company is also struggling with the fallout of E. coli infections linked to the chain’s Quarter Pounders.
Pricing on both bonds tightened to the lower end of the ranges marketed in the initial price discussions. The four-year tranche priced at 72 basis points over the Swiss Average Rate Overnight (SARON) mid-swaps, while the eight-year bond landed at 87 basis points over SARON mid-swaps, said the person, without giving an indication of investor demand.
International Demand
The Swiss franc corporate bond market has seen its busiest year since 2009 for non-financial deals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s been helped by multinational companies tapping the market to diversify their funding sources alongside their US dollar and euro programs.
The international offerings have made it the busiest year since 2016 for non-Swiss companies excluding banks in the market, the data show.
“Much of this activity in Swiss francs has been discretionary funding from a small handful of global corporates,” said Mark Lynagh, head of global investment-grade finance and co-head of global capital markets Americas at BNP Paribas SA at a round table event on Tuesday. They “have access to global markets and are taking advantage of the relative value and meaningful size available in Swiss francs at the moment, alongside the usual large Swiss-based corporates.”
McDonald’s followed Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp., which tapped the Swiss market through its Toyota Motor Finance Netherlands BV entity earlier this week, raising 270 million Swiss francs. Life science company Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., energy firm BP Capital Markets Plc and German automaker BMW AG have also sold Swiss franc-denominated debt this year.
The burger maker’s deal was managed by BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA and Commerzbank.
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