Record Debt Sale Preps AbbVie For January Spin From Abbott Laboratories

Earlier this month, AbbVie (ABBV) completed a debt offering totaling $14.7 billion, making it the largest high grade offering in U.S history by over $1 billion and the largest of the year by nearly $5 billion.  The offering was said to be hugely oversubscribed with word of $47 billion in orders.

AbbVie, which will be spun off to shareholders of Abbott Laboratories (ABT) in January, will be a large pharmaceutical company with over $18 billion in annual revenue and will boast a drug portfolio including such blockbuster drugs as Humira and Lupron. The company will use part of the proceeds of the debt sale for a large cash payment to Abbott, which will be a medical device manufacturer with over $22 billion in annual revenue.

Disclosure: Author has no position in any stock mentioned