HP NEEDS CASH …..TO SELL $2Billion OF 5 YEAR NOTES

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Date: Wednesday December 3, 2008 10:28:22 am
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    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a6oc9VApHcO0&refer=us
    Hewlett-Packard to Sell $2 Billion of Five-Year Notes
    Dec.08–
    Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to raise $2 billion to help fund its $13.2
    billion purchase of Electronic Data Systems Corp., adding to record
    corporate bond offerings by technology companies this
    year.Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest personal-computer maker, may
    pay 4.6 percentage points over Treasuries of similar maturity to issue
    five-year global benchmark notes as soon as today, according to a
    person familiar with the transaction who declined to be identified
    because terms aren’t set. The company had earlier marketed the debt at
    about 4.63 percentage points.

    Hewlett-Packard, International
    Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are turning to the bond
    market even as yields over benchmark rates soar to records. Sales of
    bonds by technology borrowers have surged 32 percent this year to the
    most ever and are equal to almost four times the 2006 tally, according
    to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a 27 percent decline
    for all investment-grade debt.“They’re companies that are able to
    handle the leverage,” said Tom Farina, a director at Deutsche Bank AG’s
    insurance asset management unit in New York, which oversees $150
    billion of fixed-income assets. “That’s why you get a company like
    Hewlett- Packard coming to market.”

    Hewlett-Packard in February
    sold $3 billion of corporate bonds in the Palo Alto, California-based
    company’s largest offering, Bloomberg data show. The sale included
    five-year 4.5 percent notes that paid a spread of 1.57 percentage
    points.The securities fell 0.9 cent today to 96.4 cents on the dollar
    to yield 5.46 percent, or 3.79 percentage points more than Treasuries
    due in 2013, according to Trace, the Financial Industry Regulatory
    Authority’s bond-pricing service. The spread was 3.39 percentage points
    yesterday.

    IBM, Microsoft
    IBM, the world’s largest computer
    services company, in October sold $4 billion of bonds in its biggest
    offering, Bloomberg data show. Microsoft, the world’s largest software
    maker, plans to sell top-rated senior unsecured bonds in an inaugural
    offering, according to a Nov. 20 regulatory filing that clears the way
    for the company to issue debt at any time.Technology companies have
    sold about $20 billion of bonds so far this year, compared with $15.1
    billion last year and $5.35 billion in 2006, Bloomberg data show. The
    extra yield investors demand to own the debt has more than tripled to
    5.11 percentage points from 1.62 percentage points on Dec. 31,
    according to Merrill’s U.S. Corporates, Technology & Electronics
    index.“Most technology companies have stronger balance sheets than your
    general industrial, but that’s because the business risk associated
    with these companies is much higher,” Farina said.

    Earnings
    Hewlett-Packard
    acquired EDS in August to expand its services business, helping boost
    sales last quarter for the combined company by 19 percent, according to
    a Nov. 24 statement. Hewlett-Packard plans to use proceeds from the
    bond offering to repay commercial paper that helped finance the
    purchase, the person said. The computer maker said it had $7.4 billion
    of commercial paper outstanding as of Oct. 31.The new notes will be
    rated A2, the sixth grade of investment quality, by Moody’s Investors
    Service, and an equivalent A by Standard & Poor’s, the person
    said.Hewlett-Packard hired Bank of America Corp., Credit Suisse Group,
    Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Royal
    Bank of Scotland to manage the offering.

    Hewlett-Packard last
    month reported a 10 percent increase in personal computer sales to
    $11.2 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, beating some estimates, as
    demand for laptops offset declining printer sales in a slowing economy.
    Hewlett-Packard redesigned its best-selling notebooks and pursued
    budget-minded shoppers with a new line of mini-portables priced below
    $400.Overall sales rose to $33.6 billion. Without the purchase of
    Plano, Texas-based EDS, sales gained 5 percent. Net income fell 2.4
    percent to $2.11 billion, or 84 cents a share, from $2.16 billion, or
    81 cents, a year earlier, the company said Nov. 24.

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