Deals Fuel Bond Boom

   (FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 12/8/14) 
   By Sarah Krouse 

Low interest rates and a resurgence in mergers and acquisitions this year, particularly big-ticket deals, have companies turning to the bond market like never before.

Boosted by medical-device maker Medtronic Inc.'s $17 billion corporate-debt sale last week, companies have issued $206.4 billion in bonds to fund acquisitions through Dec. 5, according to Dealogic. That is up nearly 30% from the same period last year and the highest level ever.

Medtronic's bond deal, which will be used to help finance its $43 billion purchase of Ireland-based Covidien PLC, is the largest corporate-bond offering this year.

The average size of U.S.-dollar investment-grade bond sales this year stands at $996 million, according to Dealogic, the highest since 2009, when the average deal size was $1 billion.

So far this year global corporate-bond deal volume, excluding financial institutions, stands at $2.17 trillion, a record year to date. In addition to Medtronic's deal, Apple Inc. sold $12 billion of investment-grade debt in April.

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