Takeda Issues $3 Billion of Bonds as Yields Fall to Record Lows

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. (4502), Japan’s largest drugmaker, raised $3 billion of debt in its first dollar-denominated bond sale as borrowing costs in the U.S. touched a record low.

The company sold $1.5 billion of 1.031 percent, three-year notes yielding 68 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries and $1.5 billion of 1.625 percent, five-year notes priced to yield 100 basis points more than benchmarks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Japanese drugmaker may use the proceeds to pay back debt from its 9.6 billion-euro ($12.4 billion) purchase of its competitor Nycomed.

Takeda sold bonds after the cost of borrowing for investment-grade companies in the U.S. fell to a record low 3.26 percent on July 6, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. Corporate Master Index data going back to 1986.

The sale of the securities was managed by Nomura Holdings Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg data show.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sridhar Natarajan in New York at snatarajan15@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net