Australia's Boral sells US$380 mln long-dated bond

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SYDNEY, March 14 (Reuters) - Boral Ltd (BLD.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz),
Australia's largest building materials maker, has raised $380
million of bonds in the U.S. traditional private placement
market, a market source said on Friday.

JPMorgan arranged the offer. Boral and JPMorgan were not
immediately available to comment.

The bond placement offered two tranches: $306 million of
10-year bonds at 350 basis points over 10-year US Treasury and
$74 million of 12-year bonds at 360 bps over 10-year US
Treasury.

Typical buyers of U.S. traditional private placements are
"buy and hold" U.S. insurance companies keen on long-dated
paper to match their assets.

They require a rating from the National Association of
Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) which has its own grid ranging
from NAIC-1 for the best credit to NAIC-6, the lowest.

Boral, rated BBB+ by S&P and Baa1 by Moody's, is an NAIC-2
credit.

It has already sold two placements in the U.S., a $400
million issue in 2005 with JPMorgan and a $300 million issue in
2002 with joint agents JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch.

In February, Boral reported a 10 percent fall in first-half
profit on weak U.S. housing markets, but beat market forecasts.

The U.S. private placement market has been a popular source
of funds for Australian companies looking for long-dated debt.
In 2007, nine Australian firms sold bonds there, raising $3.2
billion, making Australian firms the fourth-largest issuers in
the market. See [ID:nSP147917].

Australian engineering services firm WorleyParsons Ltd
(WOR.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Sonic Healthcare Ltd (SHL.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and New Zealand's South
Canterbury Finance have all flagged their intention to raise
debt in the U.S. private bond market.
(Reporting by Cecile Lefort)