J.P. Morgan Comments On WFR Senior Note Offering

Late last week, MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE: WFR) announced a private offering for $500mn in senior notes, J.P. Morgan reports.

“The notes, due 2019, will be unsecured and we believe are likely to price and close in the next 1-2 weeks,” J.P. Morgan writes.

“Offering likely to price attractively and thus see good demand. While several solar companies have issued convertible debt to date, we believe the MEMC offering represents one of the few high yield offerings in the solar space, and this may be a positive for attracting investor demand.

“Moreover, based on conversations with J.P. Morgan's credit research team, we believe the coupon is apt to be somewhere in the 7.5-8.0% range, or a full 100-150bps above similarly rated high yield offerings. Given the relatively attractive valuation, we believe it's reasonable to assume the issue will be well subscribed.”

MEMC Electronic Materials closed Friday at $14.47.