Marsh outlines $5bn senior notes offering plan for JLT deal

Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) has outlined pricing plans to issue $5 billion of senior debt across six different bonds used to fund its  acquisition of JLT Group.

The senior notes consist of $700m aggregate principal amount of its 3.500 percent senior notes due 2020; $1bn at 3.875 percent due 2024; $1.25bn at 4.375 percent due 2029; $500m at 4.750 percent due 2039; $1.25bn at 4.900 percent due 2049; and $300m of its floating rate senior notes due 2021.

MMC had previously announced the acquisition in September 2018 for a total cash consideration of $5.6 billion, which is expected to close in Spring 2019.

The deal will be funded by a combination of cash on hand and proceeds from debt financing.

Marsh added that the closing of the notes offering is not contingent on the closing of the acquisition and is expected to occur on January 15, 2019.

Goldman Sachs & Co, Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Barclays Capital, HSBC Securities (USA), JP Morgan Securities, MUFG Securities Americas, RBC Capital Markets, US Bancorp Investments, and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the notes offering.

ANZ Securities, BNP Paribas Securities, Drexel Hamilton, GC Securities, a division of MMC Securities, PNC Capital Markets, Scotia Capital (USA), TD Securities (USA), and The Williams Capital Group are acting as co-managers for the notes offering.