CVS Issues $1.25 Billion of 10-Year Debt to Fund Tender Offer

CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS), the largest provider of prescription drugs in the U.S., sold $1.25 billion of 10-year bonds to repurchase outstanding debt.

CVS issued 2.75 percent notes maturing in 2022 to yield 110 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The pharmacy services firm announced a tender offer today for any and all of its $1 billion of 6.6 percent debt maturing in March 2019, and as much as $1 billion of its $2.45 billion of bonds maturing in 2016 and 2017, less the aggregate principal amount of 2019 notes tendered and accepted for purchase, according to a statement distributed by PR Newswire.

The pharmacy’s $700 million of 6.125 percent debt maturing in 2016 traded at 118.4 cents on the dollar to yield 1.07 percent on Nov. 23, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Barclays Plc and Wells Fargo & Co. managed the sale of the new bonds for the Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based company.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Rawlings in New York at prawlings@bloomberg.net

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