Power Alley: Merck Now Smartly Financing The Coming Cidara Transaction Closing... With Various Debt Maturities.

We mentioned this ~$9.2 billion flu-therapy M&A move, just last month. Now Rahway will issue at least eight buckets of debt securities -- to keep the capital ratios in balance -- on its balance sheet, as it likely brings euro cash home over the next forty years, to repay these instruments. [That -- it turns out -- is a very smart way to bring home cash, without paying any "repatriation" level US federal taxes.]

Here is the red herring prospectus, for all of that. The debt deals will close in three elapsed days -- generating 8/9^ths of the cash proceeds needed to close with Cidara. Cool. Per Bloomberg, then -- subs. req. -- thus no link:

. . .Merck & Co Inc. raised $8 billion through a US investment-grade dollar bond offering, with part of the proceeds expected to help fund its proposed acquisition of Cidara Therapeutics Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The pharmaceutical company’s offering was split in eight parts, with maturities ranging from three to 40 years, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private details. The spread for the longest portion of the deal — a $1 billion note maturing in 2065 — tightened to 1 percentage point above Treasuries, from 1.2 percentage points initially, the people added. . . .

Sweet. But it is hardly private -- a final free writing 424(b) will be filed at the SEC -- for the world to see -- by tomorrow morning, no doubt. Onward.

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