Bank of America raises $1 billion in a corporate bond offering to help health industry fight pandemic
- Bank of America has priced a $1 billion corporate bond issue to help fight COVID-19.
- A confidential source told Bloomberg on Thursday that the bank sold fix-to-floating rate notes to fund COVID-19 related social issues.
- Analysts at Moody's Investors Service are bracing for an uptick in sustainable investing this year due to the pandemic.
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Bank of America has priced a $1 billion corporate bond issue to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Bloomberg data, it is the first sale from a US financial institution that earmarks all funds raised to mitigating the pandemic.
The bank sold fixed-to-floating rate notes to finance investments that aim to rectify social issues related to coronavirus, a confidential source who was not authorized to speak on the matter told Bloomberg.
The source said the bonds will generate a yield 1.30 percentage points higher than US Treasurys.
Bloomberg data shows that borrowers have raised over $102.6 billion of debt this year in the fight against coronavirus.
Bank of America's announcement follows similar measures by big players in other industries and countries.
AXA Investment Managers said it has invested €230 million ($249 million) in COVID-19 bonds across portfolios on behalf of its parent group AXA Group and third-party clients.
At the end of March, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced the completion of a $1.25 billion 10-year sustainability bond paying interest of 2.625% semi-annually with a bond maturity date of April 1, 2030.
Moody's analysts are bracing for an uptick in sustainable finance investing given the pandemic.
"Greater emphasis on social finance and sustainable development will likely be one of the lasting outcomes of the coronavirus crisis," Moody's said in a report in May.
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