Premium"The Cycle's TXU?": Paramount's Record Bond Offering Craters Before The Ink Is Dry
On Monday we flagged that September was shaping up as the worst month for junk since 2022. We also noted that Paramount's $12.4 billion high-yield tranche would be bigger than SoftBank's recently issued record $11 billion junk deal. The next morning the company kicked off the high-grade portion. By Tuesday afternoon it reported $109 billion of demand.
With so much excess demand, the offering was supposed to fly off the shelves. It did not: the deal priced on Wednesday, the same day a judge accepted the states' settlement and the merger was scheduled to close on Oct. 6. It is the biggest takeover financing Hollywood has seen, for the biggest Hollywood buyout ever. Paramount won Warner Bros. from Netflix back in February.