Deals
Nokia Junk Seen in High-Grade Ascent With Microsoft Cash
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By selling its money-losing mobile-phone business to Microsoft Corp. for $7.2 billion, Nokia Oyj is now on the cusp of earning an investment-grade rating from the bond market.
The company’s $1 billion of 5.375 percent debt due in May 2019 jumped to a three-year high of 102.9 cents after Nokia said Microsoft agreed to pay 5.44 billion euros for its handset unit. That caused the yield on the junk-rated bonds to fall to 4.79 percent, just 0.25 percentage point more than the average for similar-maturity debt with the lowest investment grade of BBB-, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.