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Mars issues 8-part bond for Kellanova ( K ) acquisition

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Bond offering could raise $25-$30 billion, bookrunners say

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Mars bond deal may double M&A bond issuance for 2023, IGM

reports

By Shankar Ramakrishnan

March 5 (Reuters) - Family-owned candy giant Mars

announced a eight-part investment-grade bond offering on

Wednesday to help finance its takeover of Pringles maker

Kellanova ( K ), according to a terms sheet, in what is expected

to be one of the largest acquisition financing deals this year.

Bank of America ( BAC ), BNP Paribas, Citigroup ( C/PN )

, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley ( MS ) and Rabobank

were the bookrunners for the offering, which is expected to

raise anywhere between $25 to $30 billion, they said.

Reuters last week reported the bonds will be announced this

week.

According to the term sheet of the offering, Mars, which is

offering bonds with maturities that range from two years to 40

years, said it will redeem the notes at a price of 101 if the

acquisition was not completed by August 20, 2026.

The Mars bonds headlined what has been a heavy week for

acquisition financing. On Monday, design software maker Synopsys ( SNPS )

raised $10 billion selling six tranches of bonds that

had maturities from two years to 30. The bonds would help

finance its $34 billion takeover of Ansys ( ANSS ).

Demand for Synopsys ( SNPS ) bonds was massive with books covered

some three to five times the issuance size, according to Informa

Global Markets data.

If Mars raised $25 billion, it would become the eighth

largest deal of all time and more than double the amount of

M&A-related investment-grade bond issuance for the year, said

IGM.

The announcement of the bond was made on a day when markets

were relatively stable after a selloff earlier in the week as

U.S. President Trump escalated a global trade war on Tuesday by

imposing 25% tariffs on top trade partners, Canada and Mexico,

citing ineffective border controls.