This article is part of our new Investment Grade coverage. Want the US IG Wrap sent straight to your inbox every Monday? Add your details here, and we’ll get you on the mailing list.

This is the last US IG Wrap of the year — we’ll return on 9 January. Happy Holidays!

One last deal trickled into the US IG bond market this week, likely finalizing deal flow for 2025 with some acquisition financing.

Risk insurance and HR consulting firm Willis North America priced a $1bn dual-tranche deal that will be used to fund its recently announced $1.3bn acquisition of San Francisco-based broker Newfront.

The borrower is a subsidiary of Willis Towers Watson (WTW), which said that the acquisition will enhance its middle-market business and add scale to its technology, fintech and life sciences sectors.

JP Morgan led the $700m 4.5% SUNs due 2031 as well as $300m 5.15% SUNs due 2036. Spreads tightened by 25bps-27bps through price progression to land at Treasuries plus 85bps and T+98bps, respectively.

The acquisition was announced just last week, so Willis used special mandatory redemption language to get the deal done before year-end.

If the acquisition does not close for any reason, the funds will be used to refund in whole the $550m aggregate principal amount of the company’s 4.4% SUNs due 2026.

That deal brings December supply up to $36.2bn. As we detailed last week, that falls pretty well right on the average over the past decade or so.

Away from the primary, we’re still covering the saga that is Warner Bros. Discovery’s competing bids from Netflix and Paramount Skydance. WBD’s board officially came out this week to reject Paramount’s offer and is encouraging its shareholders to do the same.

There will probably be more twists and turns in that story but we have you covered with a credit breakdown this week of both proposals to add to our analysis of the bridge financings from last week.

Reminiscing and looking forward

If folks haven’t already, its that time of year where things wind down and you curl up by the fireplace to read some year-end recaps and 2026 outlook reports (No? Just us?). Well, we have some good reading material for you.

The mining sector has been active in the M&A space these last few months, leading to the biggest year for mining supply since 2013. That was still just $17.7bn of supply from the sector this year, making up just over 1% of gross issuance — still, investors said this is a space to watch in 2026 as companies chase after rare earth materials.

We also delved into the dynamics of gross and net supply this year in which overall supply was at a historic high but net new issuance coming into the index actually fell. That is not expected to be the case next year as AI spending and M&A bring more net volume, but there is still a massive refinancing wall to deal with.

Supply was also very strong in Europe, where corporate borrowers on both sides of the Atlantic turned to Euros at a high rate in 2025. Again, that market is expected to take another step up next year.

Finally, we also have a ratings outlook highlighting how the triple-B space is shrinking in favor of single-A debt. That trend too is set to accelerate in 2026 as single-A-rated hyperscalers pour more supply into the market.

Between those pieces and the rest of our year-end coverage of the LevFin, private credit and distressed spaces, there should be plenty to tide you over through the holidays.