Apple capitalises on Fed’s emergency measures to issue cheapest bonds in years, funding buy-backs, dividends
- Tech giant Apple is the latest blue-chip company to capitalise on the Federal Reserve’s emergency measures in response to the coronavirus outbreak
- Companies with the best credit ratings are boosting shareholder returns by tapping cheap debt
Apple’s offering illustrates how companies with the best credit ratings are boosting shareholder returns by tapping cheap debt made available through the Fed’s backstopping of the credit markets. Apple shares are virtually flat year-to-date, compared with a 12 per cent drop in the S&P 500 Index.
The technology company raised US$8.5 billion by selling four different bonds with maturities ranging from three years to 30 years. It sold a US$2 billion three-year bond and a five-year US$2.25 billion with coupons of 0.75 per cent and 1.125 per cent respectively, the lowest rates the company has paid on bonds with such durations since 2013, according to Refinitiv IFR data.
The coupons on Apple’s 10-year and 30-year bonds were also the lowest the company has paid in the past years, according to the Refinitiv data.
The funds will go toward general corporate purposes, including share repurchases and dividend payments, Apple said in a regulatory filing. During the six months ended March 28, Apple spent US$38.5 billion to repurchase its own stock.
The Fed slashed interest rates to almost zero in March and said it would act as buyer of last resort in the investment-grade corporate bond market, in a bid to help cash-strapped companies access capital markets roiled by the economic fallout from the pandemic.
