Harvard Attracts ‘Insatiable Demand’ for AAA Rated Bond Sale
- Goldman-led deal with corporate cusip priced at low spread
- BI analyst Kazatsky says the university is ‘too big to fail’
This article is for subscribers only.
Harvard University — armed with a AAA credit rating and $50 billion endowment — sold $750 million in taxable bonds this week as buyers shrugged off recent controversies swirling around the school.
The debt priced at 47 basis points above similar-maturity Treasuries, compared to earlier price talk of 60 basis points. That’s one of the tightest spread of any 11-year investment-grade bond dating back to at least 2009, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The bonds rallied in secondary trading Wednesday morning, a further sign of strong investor appetite.