US bond investors becoming more selective

New York

AFTER more than seven years of an anything-goes market, corporate-bond investors are starting to flex their muscles.

Vodafone Group plc shelved plans to sell as much as US$2 billion of bonds last week after investors demanded sweetened terms, including provisions that would've protected them against losses in the event the company is taken over, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Such requirements, once rare for investment-grade issues, are being added with increasing frequency as the tide begins to turn after years of easy-money policies that fuelled an US$11 trillion corporate borrowing binge, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.