Novartis sells $11 billion bonds to fund avidity acquisition

Group 1 - Novartis AG raised $11 billion through the sale of investment-grade US dollar bonds to fund its acquisition of Avidity Biosciences Inc. [1] - The bond sale included seven tranches with maturities ranging from three to 30 years, and a five-year floating-rate note was dropped during syndication [1][2] - The longest bond maturing in 2056 will yield 0.9 percentage points over Treasuries, which is about 0.3 percentage points tighter than initial price talk [2] Group 2 - Proceeds from the bond sale will be used to repay a bridge loan for the $12 billion acquisition of Avidity, which was finalized last month [2][4] - The acquisition aligns with Novartis's strategy to focus on innovative drugs in key therapeutic areas such as heart, kidney, metabolic drugs, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology [4] - The Novartis bond deal was the largest among eight investment-grade bond offerings totaling approximately $26 billion on the same day [4] Group 3 - The bond offering is part of a broader trend of increased corporate borrowing in the investment-grade bond market, despite widening spreads due to economic concerns related to the Middle East conflict [3] - Other recent acquisition-related bond offerings include those from companies like Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., Baker Hughes Co., Eaton Corp Plc, and Abbott Laboratories [3] - Novartis Capital Corp. last accessed the dollar market in November, selling $6 billion of notes across seven tranches [5]