Waste Management plans $800 mil debt sale

Waste Management Inc., North America's largest trash hauler, plans to sell $800 million of 6- and 10-year notes, according to a person familiar with the offering.

The sale will be split between $350 million of six-year notes and $450 million of 10-year debt, said the person, who declined to be identified because terms aren't set. Both may price to yield 462.5 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, the person said. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. The sale may occur as soon as today, the person said.

The notes may be rated Baa3 by Moody's Investors Service, the lowest level of investment quality, and one step higher at BBB by Standard & Poor's, the person said.

Dave Tooley, a company spokesman, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Houston-based Waste Management hired Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and RBS Greenwich Capital to manage the sale, the person said.

Waste Management last sold debt in March 2008, issuing $600 million of 6.1 percent notes that priced to yield 260 basis points more than Treasuries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The 10-year notes last traded Feb. 10 at 97.1 cents on the dollar to yield 6.5 percent, up from 77 cents on Oct. 28, according to Trace, the bond price-reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. That figure excludes trades of less than $1 million.