Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant Unilever Plc sold $7 billion (€8.33 billion) of global bonds yesterday, the fifth largest dollar-denominated corporate bond sale ever, despite an unstable market. The market is more cautious about new issues than it has been since 1998. That forced even a respected company like Unilever to pay up to attract investors to its bonds.

Unilever sold its bonds to pay down bank loans it arranged to buy Bestfoods of Englewood Cliffs, N.J. this month for $20.3 billion.