(Bloomberg) -- U.S. banking giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc. followed Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. in raising sterling debt just days after reporting earnings.
The New York-based bank sold 750 million pounds ($980 million) of notes due in 7.5 years, according to a person familiar with the matter, who isn't authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified. It was the lender's first sale in the currency since June, when it raised 900 million pounds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Lenders across the Atlantic are taking advantage of a post-earnings issuance window to seize on favorable funding conditions. U.S. issuers raising sterling debt stand to make the biggest savings since 2008 as the cost of exchanging pound bonds into dollars falls below what it would cost to issue in their own currency, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Investors are lapping up the sales. Goldman received about 1.5 billion pounds of bids for its notes today, beating the 1 billion pounds of demand for Bank of America's 600 million-pound bond sale on Wednesday. Wells Fargo's 500 million-pound six-year notes on Tuesday pulled in more than 775 million pounds of investor orders, according to other people with knowledge of the sales.
Two euro notes offered by Bank of America at the same time as its sterling bond were on average more than 1.7 times covered.
Read more: Bank of America Joins Wall Street Peers in Europe Debt Foray
Goldman last week announced a surprise 4% revenue increase in its trading operations, crushing expectations for a 23% drop. The biggest lift came from its fixed-income business, which jumped 21%.
Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also reported better-than-expected revenue from trading operations, boosted by volatility triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Today, Goldman's bond, which is callable after 6.5 years, priced at 195 basis points above U.K. gilts, inside an opening target of about 215 basis points. The bank was sole bookrunner on the sale.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
