Après Lagardère, Campari fait appel au marché obligataire avec des titres non notés

LONDRES (Dow Jones)--Le groupe italien de spiritueux Davide Campari-Milano (CPR.MI) a fait appel jeudi au marché obligataire pour la première fois depuis trois ans, devenant ainsi la deuxième entreprise européenne non notée en deux jours à émettre de la dette.

Les entreprises non notées considérées comme étant de catégorie investissement ont émis près de 6 milliards d'euros de titres obligataires depuis le début de l'année, selon les données de Société Générale. Ce montant représente moins de 5% des 156 milliards d'euros d'obligations placées par des entreprises non financières de catégorie investissement depuis janvier, ce qui souligne la relative rareté de la dette non notée.

Le nombre d'obligations non notées pourrait toutefois augmenter à mesure que les petites et moyennes entreprises sans note de crédit se détournent du marché du crédit, alors que les banques réduisent leurs prêts de manière à diminuer leur bilan.

"Les prêts bancaires devenant moins abondants, de plus en plus d'entreprises se tournent vers les marchés obligataires", explique Martin O'Donovan, de l'Association britannique des trésoriers d'entreprises (ACT). "Si vous ne prévoyez de réaliser une émission occasionnelle qu'une fois tous les cinq ans, par exemple, payer pour obtenir une note de crédit semble exagérément onéreux."

Campari a placé jeudi pour 400 millions d'euros d'obligations à sept ans pour financer son acquisition du producteur de rhum jamaïcain Lascelles de Mercado & Co. Le groupe italien proposera le titre à 325 points de base au-dessus du taux midswap de référence, supérieur de seulement 5 points de base à l'obligation de 10,5 ans émise la semaine dernière par Enel, qui est noté 'BBB+'.

Mercredi, c'est le groupe de médias français Lagardère (MMB.FR), non noté, qui a placé pour 500 millions d'euros d'obligations à cinq ans, à un taux de 4,125%.

-Ben Edwards, Dow Jones Newswires

(Version française Emilie Palvadeau)

-0- By Ben Edwards

Italian drinks company Davide Campari-Milano SpA (CPR.MI) Thursday tapped the bond market for the first time in three years, becoming the second unrated European borrower to sell debt in as many days, boding well for other non-rated companies looking to raise cash.

Unrated corporate borrowers deemed to be of investment-grade quality have issued almost 6 billion euros ($7,87 billion) of debt so far this year, Societe Generale SA data show. That is less than 5% of the EUR156 billion of bonds sold by investment-grade non-financial companies since January, highlighting the relative scarcity of unrated debt.

But the number of unrated bonds may grow as small and medium-sized borrowers without credit ratings diversify away from the loan market as banks cut back on lending to shrink their balance sheets.

"Because there is less bank finance around, more companies are turning to the bond markets," said Martin O'Donovan, deputy policy and technical director at the Association of Corporate Treasurers. "If you're only planning to do an occasional issue once every five years or so, paying for a rating might seem disproportionately high."

Campari sold EUR400 million of seven-year notes to finance its acquisition of Jamaican rum maker Lascelles deMercado & Co. The Italian company will price the bond at 325 basis points over the reference midswap rate, only five basis points more than Italy's BBB+ rated energy supplier Enel sold 10,5-year cash for last week.

Analysts say Campari benefits from being a recognized brand, making it easier to raise funds. Campari is also familiar to investors, having first issued an unrated bond in October 2009. Order books for the bond closed at EUR4,8 billion.

Thursday's deal follows bonds from unrated French media company Lagardere SCA (MMB.FR), which Wednesday sold EUR500 million of five-year debt at 4,125%, and German pharmaceutical company Celesio AG (CLS1.XE), which last week sold EUR350 million of four-year debt at 4%.

With high-grade yields at record lows and demand for corporate bonds outstripping supply, investors are increasingly moving down the credit spectrum, opening up the market to unrated issuers, said Jeroen van den Broek, credit strategist at ING.

"Campari is a peripheral non-rated company, so that really proves the strength of the market at the moment," he said.

Yet even if more unrated companies seek to tap the bond market, demand for their debt may be constrained as investor mandates often require a bond to have at least one credit rating.

Funds that follow benchmark indexes are also less likely to buy unrated debt as it will be ineligible for most indexes and therefore increase the risk of tracking errors, said Warren Hyland, fixed-income fund manager at Schroders.

"The main driver of a quality credit is not if it's rated, it's whether it's index eligible and how much extra effort in terms of in-house analysis needs to be done," he said.

Write to Ben Edwards at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2012 11:54 ET (15:54 GMT)

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