Corporate Leverage Poised to Rise on Deals Deluge: Credit Weekly

US companies are poised to boost their debt levels to help fund a $1 trillion wave of acquisitions, a reversal after years of scaling back their borrowings.

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. this week said it’s buying coffeemaker JDE Peet’s NV and funding the deal with a €16.2 billion ($19.0 billion) bridge loan. AT&T Inc. said on Tuesday it’s buying spectrum licenses from EchoStar Corp. for about $23 billion, a move that will probably be at least partly funded with bonds.

Companies have broadly been lifting their debt loads relative to earnings, with that leverage ratio in the second ...