AT&T Inc., the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier, sold $5billion of bonds to help pay back debt maturing this year.

AT&T sold $1.5 billion of 2.4 percent, five-year notes thatyield 148 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, $1.5billion of 3.875 percent, 10-year debt at a spread of 160 basispoints and $2 billion of 5.55 percent, 30-year bonds that pay 185basis points more than benchmarks, according to data compiled byBloomberg. Proceeds may also be used for general corporatepurposes, said a person familiar with the offering, who declined tobe identified because the terms are private.

Corporate bond offerings are showing signs of life, withborrowers from Occidental Petroleum Corp. to San Diego Gas &Electric Co. joining Dallas-based AT&T in tapping the market asyields on investment-grade debt hover at about the lowest onrecord. Sales rose 37.6 percent last week to $13.6 billion afterfalling to the lowest since June during the period ended Aug. 5,Bloomberg data show.

AT&T has $3.25 billion of bonds coming due this year,according to Bloomberg data. Fitch Ratings said the company plannedto sell about $4 billion of bonds earlier today.

Barclays Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. managed AT&T'soffering, Bloomberg data show. Fitch assigned the notes a grade ofA, it said today in a statement. The company is rated A2 by Moody'sInvestors Service and A-, one step lower, by Standard &Poor's.

Previous Sale
AT&T last sold bonds onApril 26, when it issued $1.75 billion of five-year, 2.95 percentnotes that yielded 97 basis points more than similar-maturityTreasuries and $1.25 billion of 10-year, 4.45 percent debt thatpaid a spread of 115 basis points, Bloomberg data show. A basispoint is 0.01 percentage point.

The notes due May 2016 traded at 104.4 cents on the dollar onAug. 12 to yield 1.98 percent, 102 basis points more thanbenchmarks, according to Trace, the bond price reporting system ofthe Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Yields on bonds in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S.Corporate Master Index averaged 3.64 percent on Aug. 12 aftertouching 3.503 percent on Aug. 9, the lowest in daily dataextending to October 1986.

Verizon Wireless is the biggest U.S. wireless carrier.

Bloomberg News

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