CDW plans debt amid bonds' first loss since May

Vernon Hills-baseed CDW Corp., the technology-services provider taken private by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC in 2007, is marketing debt as U.S. corporate bonds suffer their first monthly loss since May.

CDW plans to sell $300 million of eight-year notes to help repay bank debt due in 2014, according to a Nov. 29 statement by Standard & Poor's, which assigned the securities a grade of B-. Moody's Investors Service ranked the company's senior secured debt B2, one step higher.

Investment-grade bonds dropped 0.9 percent last month and high-yield debt plunged 1.1 percent amid investor concern that Ireland's debt crisis could spread. Issuance last week was $2.89 billion, the least since the period ended May 7, when sales were $2.15 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The extra yield investors demand to own speculative-grade corporate bonds instead of Treasuries rose 29 basis points last month to 622 basis points, while absolute yields climbed 38 basis points to 8.13 percent, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. High Yield Master II index.

Junk bonds, rated below Baa3 by Moody's and less than BBB- by S&P, lost 3.5 percent in May. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Investment-grade spreads widened 5 basis points to 182 basis points in November, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. Corporate Master Index. Yields climbed 23 basis points to 3.87 percent. The bonds lost 0.6 percent in May.

American International Group Inc., the insurer rescued by the U.S. government in 2008, sold $2 billion of three- and 10- year notes to lead $4.77 billion of issuance yesterday, Bloomberg data show. Companies sold $97 billion of debt last month, compared with $103 billion in October and $98 billion in November 2009.

The following is a description of at least $4.35 billion of pending sales of dollar-denominated bonds in the U.S.