Apple Inc., one of the most cash-rich companies in the world, isstill looking to get a piece of the ultra-cheap money that's up forgrabs in the bond market.

With investment-grade bond yields hovering near record lows,it's tempting even for Apple—with more than $200 billion of cashand investment securities on its books—to see what investors willlend it. Turns out that number is $7 billion, or just over 3percent of its current coffers.

With the 30-year Treasury at record lows, many companies havebeen able to borrow more cheaply for much longer. Apple will payaround 2.98 percent interest on its new 30-year bonds, comparedwith the 3.45 percent it's paying on three-decade bonds it sold in2015. On a $1.5 billion issue, that equates to savings of just over$7 million of interest annually, or $211.5 million over the courseof three decades.

Today's debt sale helps Apple refinance roughly $2 billion ofdebt that's scheduled to mature this year, in addition to much ofthe $10 billion it has coming due in 2020, according to datacompiled by Bloomberg.

Apple's not the only one seizing this golden opportunity. Arecord 21 U.S. investment-grade companies tapped the marketTuesday, borrowing a combined $27 billion. With more than a dozendeals in the works Wednesday, this week's issuance is already setto hit $54 billion, comfortably surpassing dealer estimates of $40billion.

See also:

• The World's Biggest Borrowers
• Companies Securitize Everything as Investors Reachfor Yield
• Companies Spent Their Summer Vacation SellingBonds

 – With assistance from LukeKawa.

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