Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc. raised $1.2 billion in the high-grade bond market on Tuesday to buy back its shares. The company issued bonds in two parts, with the longest portion, a $500 million 10-year security, offering a yield of 1.05 percentage points above Treasuries, compared to initial discussions of around 1.3 percentage points.

The day before, the company announced plans to buy back up to $2 billion of its shares. Coca-Cola Consolidated is also planning an additional share repurchase from Coca-Cola Co., bringing the total potential share buyback to as much as $3.1 billion. The proceeds from the bond sale will be used to fund these equity transactions, with any remaining net proceeds going towards general corporate purposes.

This marks the company’s first public offering of investment-grade dollar debt since 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. J. Frank Harrison III, chairman and CEO, stated, “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 shareholders and build long-term value.”