Sprint unit raises $5 billion

Long-distance phone company Sprint on Friday raised $5 billion from a bond sale to help it pay down short-term debt and further alleviate investor concerns about a cash crunch. The sale, the second-largest U.S. corporate bond sale this year, swelled 150 percent from $2 billion, and drew more than $12 billion of investor bids, an investor said. Kansas City, Missouri-based Sprint drew heavy demand even though Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday cut its credit rating because of weakness in its long-distance business. Sprint Capital, the Sprint unit that conducted the sale, sold bonds as investors grow more comfortable with corporate bonds, and as the U.S. economy appears to be on the road to recovery. Story Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.