Merck, a leading science and technology company,  issued bonds amounting to € 1.0 billion. The revenue from the bond issue will be used for general corporate purposes, including refinancing of short-term financial liabilities.

The issuance comprises two fixed-interest tranches: a bond with a term of four years amounting to € 500 million paying a coupon of 1.875%, as well as a bond amounting to € 500 million with a term of eight years paying a coupon of 2.375%.

“The high investor demand for our bonds, also in such volatile times, shows the strong believe in the financial discipline of Merck,” said Marcus Kuhnert, Member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of Merck. Achieving a well-diversified distribution among a wide range of institutional investors such as fund managers, insurance companies, pension funds, and banks, the bonds were heavily oversubscribed.

The active bookrunners commissioned for the transaction were JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Mizuho Bank, and UniCredit Bank.

Merck is rated “A” (stable outlook) by Standard & Poor’s, “A–“ (positive outlook) by Scope and “A3” (stable outlook) by Moody’s.