CBs provide relief for stressed US companies

摘要

Once highly-rated US corporates are doing the unthinkable: selling stock - or as close to it as they dare with convertible bonds - to bridge funding through the Covid-19 pandemic. Retailers burlington stores and dick's sporting goods, along with travel technology provider sabre, all issued convertible bonds last week as part of broader measures to maximise liquidity. They follow cruise ship operator carnival and online travel broker booking, which used equity-linked to bridge the current situation. "These financings are less about cost of capital and more about execution certainty," said one banker involved in the Sabre financing. "They are not worried about 25bp or 50bp but how do I get to the end of 2021. "That liquidity allows them to go on the offensive at a time when their competitors are struggling."