Does CVS Really Need $20 Billion More in Debt for Acquisitions?

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By Jon C. Ogg Published

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CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) is not one of the biggest names that investors generally think of when it comes to multi-billion capital raises. So what happens when you see a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for $20 billion in debt?

CVS’s S-3 registration was filed to increase the registration by $10 billion, which it can issue in SEC-registered transactions. CVS already had $10 billion of debt securities registered with the SEC.

The filing also says that the funds raised will be used for general corporate purposes. Still, that is effectively to help pay for M&A. What happened here is that CVS appears to have raised additional debt to help it pay for acquisitions.

The filing shows that CVS Pharmacy entered into a merger agreement to acquire Omnicare. This is a pharmacy services provider to long-term care facilities, as well as specialty pharmacy and key commercialization services. CVS said in this filing that it has secured $13 billion in fully committed unsecured bridge financing in connection with the Omnicare merger.

The filing also showed that CVS entered into a merger agreement on June 12, 2015, with Target to acquire its pharmacy and clinic businesses for a cash purchase price of $1.887 billion.

CVS has a market cap of almost $120 billion currently. As of March 31, 2015, CVS had over $1.6 billion in cash and short-term investments and about $11.7 billion in long-term debt.

This hardly seems like a stock moving event — shares are up 0.26% on the day to $106.42 Tuesday. CVS has a 52-week range of $74.64 to $106.68. The consensus analyst price target is $116.24.

How many times to do you see $20 billion debt offering registrations filed?

ALSO READ: 10 Companies to Own for the Next Decade

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.

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