Tobacco company Altria Group will tap the European investment grade corporate bond market to help finance its 12.8 billion dollar purchase of a stake in e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc.
That's according to a regulatory filing on Monday.
Altria, the maker of Marlboro, said it would issue the bonds in four tranches in denominations of 100,000 euros as it looks to prepay a term loan arranged by JPMorgan Chase & Co to fund the deal.
Altria's deal for a 35 percent stake in the controversial e-cigarette maker Juul, along with a stake in Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group Inc in December last year, roughly doubled the company's total debt.
This caused two-notch downgrades Altria's credit rating in December from both Standard & Poor's and Fitch's.
