(Bloomberg) -- Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc. raised $1.2 billion in the blue-chip bond market Tuesday to buy back stock.

The bottler of Coke sold bonds in two parts, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The longest portion of the offering, a $500 million 10-year security, yields 1.05 percentage point over Treasuries after earlier discussions for around 1.3 percentage point, said the person, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak about it.

The offering comes just a day after the company said it was buying back up to $2 billion of its shares. Coca-Cola Consolidated is also buying additional shares from Coca-Cola Co., bringing the total potential share buyback to as much as $3.1 billion. The bond sale will be used to fund equity transactions, with any remaining net proceeds applied to general corporate purposes.

It’s the first time the company has tapped the investment-grade dollar debt market with a public offering since 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“We believe this is an ideal time to leverage the strength of our balance sheet by taking on a prudent amount of debt to return cash to stockholders and build long-term value,” said J. Frank Harrison III, chairman and chief executive officer.

Earlier this year, companies including insurance provider Cigna Group and weapons maker Lockheed Martin Corp. raised debt in part to fund share repurchases. Some companies have been looking to increase their leverage to help boost returns to shareholders after yields have fallen since October.

Bank of America Corp., PNC Financial Services Group, Truist Securities Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. managed the bond sale. The debt is expected to be rated Baa1 by Moody’s Ratings and BBB+ by S&P Global Ratings. Earlier this month, S&P revised the outlook for the company to negative from stable, saying they could lower ratings by the first half of fiscal 2026 if the company doesn’t reduce leverage. 

Coca-Cola Consolidated was one of nine issuers that sold debt in the high-grade market on Tuesday. 

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