Bank Loan Report articles from April 2003

Bank Loan Report archives from April 2003

Economic Woes, War Keep Q1 Loan Volumes Low.
April 7, 2003... A brutal first quarter in the syndicated loan market, at least for most lenders, is unlikely to improve much throughout the rest of the year, and while the war with Iraq has played a part, lenders attribute much of the slowdown to more...

Despite Bridge, Fleming Is In Trouble.
April 7, 2003... Bankrupt grocery distributor Fleming Cos. last week received a $50 million interim debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing commitment from lead arrangers Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan as a bridge to a permanent $150 million DIP financing package....

Restructuring The Slurpee Makers: Overleverage and overexpansion haunt convenience stores.
April 7, 2003... Super-sizing can kill you. That lesson has been lost on McDonalds' addicts, but it continues to be driven home to convenience stores as more and more chains face refinancings and bankruptcies. Problem is, because the properties of so many...

Market Gets Back on Track with Several Deals Launching to Retail.
April 7, 2003... After two weeks of virtual inactivity, the syndicated loan market showed signs of life last week. "We had a sprinkling of deals," one source said. "The calendar is not extremely strong, but at least some things are getting launched." ...

Convertible Bond Market Appeals to Some High Yield Issuers.
April 7, 2003... The convertible bond market has long been used as an alternative source of funding for those sub investment grade issuers unable to access the straight high yield bond market. But the convertible market has been so attractive of late, that even...

Markets Want Vivendi; CSFB Tops Q1 US League Tables, Deutsche's Number Two.(various news items)
April 7, 2003... Vivendi Prices to Enthusiastic Market Vivendi was the name on almost every high yield participant's lips last week, both in the US and in Europe. The company, which is borrowing a whopping E3.5 billion through a combination of bonds...

United Teetering Toward DIP Default Threatens Lenders.(United Airlines)
April 14, 2003... The news last week that United Airlines has reached agreements to cut labor costs was certainly welcomed by the company's debtor-in-possession (DIP) lenders, but those agreements remain tentative. As air travel continues to drop, lenders...

LBO Pro Airs His View on Market.(Jonathan Bland answers questions)
April 14, 2003... The overhang of the war and prolonged economic uncertainty have placed a damper on deal flow in the US leveraged buyout (LBO) market thus far this year, but LBO pros say there's a great deal of activity waiting to happen once the cloud of...

Altria/Philip Morris: Blowing Up?
April 14, 2003... Philip Morris USA, a subsidiary of Altria Group Inc., was on the brink of going up in smoke last week. The company was to post a $12 billion bond for the right to appeal a $10.1 billion damage verdict handed down by an Illinois judge, a move...

Market Active, But Not So Busy; Allied Waste's $3B Refi is the Word.
April 14, 2003... The syndicated loan market was fairly busy last week, with a few deals launching to retail. The general sense, though, is that things have cooled off, a source said, and for the next couple of weeks, there are only a few deals on the...

Bram Smith Joins Bear.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... Bram Smith, a well-known figure in the loan market, has joined Bear Stearns as a senior managing director in the firm's leveraged finance group. He comes to Bear Stearns with over 20 years experience in debt underwriting and distribution, and...

In a Hot High Yield Market, Deals Price on the Tight End.
April 14, 2003... US Oversubscribed Iron Mountain Prices Just North of 7% Iron Mountain easily priced a B2/B-rated, $300 million drive-by offering of 7.75% senior subordinated notes at 104 to yield 7.066 via Bear Stearns. The records storage and...

TECO Deal Addresses US Volatility: First World Or What?(TECO Energy)
April 21, 2003... Under pressure from the ratings agencies, TECO Energy recently signed an agreement with Merrill Lynch in which the investment bank committed to provide $350 million in funding to the company, if it's needed. The contingency financing borrows on...

WorldCom Rivals Come Under Pressure.
April 21, 2003... WorldCom, a company that few wanted to touch not too long ago, looks set to make a triumphant return. Not only is the company expected to emerge from bankruptcy with a balance sheet wiped nearly clear of all debt, but WorldCom and companies...

Companies Balk at Loan Trading.
April 21, 2003... The chief financial officer of a healthcare services company recently met with investment bankers from Jefferies & Co. at the latter's Nashville, Tenn. office to talk about an upcoming high yield offering. The healthcare company wanted bank...

Troubled Fleming Gets a DIP, While Oxford Health Prices Wider - Just As The Market Had Anticipated.(meshed briefs)
April 21, 2003... The syndicated loan market continued to see some deals last week, but as market pros had predicted, the flow of deals was not so strong. Also, several of the deals that have already been launched saw some tweaking - more often than not to...

Love em or Hate em, Hedge Funds are Good for HY Market.(high yield)
April 21, 2003... Hedge funds have not been a major component of the European high yield investor base, yet they played a strong part in ensuring the success of the recent high yield bond issued by media giant Vivendi. The technical bid for the new bond was so...

Pari Passu Doesn't Create Contractual Rights for Vultures.
April 28, 2003... A court decision three years ago appeared to give vulture investors a leg up in receiving pre-bankruptcy payments from borrowers equal to other lenders, even though they purchased the debt at steep discounts. Another decision earlier this...

For the Bold, Airlines still Offer Value.
April 28, 2003... Most US airline companies are currently mired deep in junk territory, and bankruptcies and restructurings are increasingly becoming the order of the day. Some companies like Continental have restructured several times already, and last week,...

Toxic Junk CDOs Spur Real Estate Craze.
April 28, 2003... High yield bonds, which for a long time were the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) market's favorite kind of collateral, are no longer the in thing. These days, wary CDO investors who have seen one too many high yield CDO being...

With Few Deals to Choose From, Market Players Pick on Bones.
April 28, 2003... The syndicated loan market was quiet last week, and with deals few and far between, it's likely to remain so over the next couple of weeks as well, sources said. "The same stuff continues to do the rounds," an institutional investor said....

A Specialist in Sharing: Houlihan's New Co-CEO Represents Both the Old and New Face of the Business.
April 28, 2003... It's a good thing Jeff Werbalowsky learned to share back in kindergarten, since divvying up has become something of a vocation for the outspoken ex-lawyer. For the last 15 years, he has shared the directorship of the financial...

Chemical Deal Suits US Market Taste.(Millennium Chemicals Inc.)
April 28, 2003... Millennium Chemicals, Inc. easily priced a drive-by Ba1/BB+ rated, $75 million add-on to its 9.25% 2008 senior notes. The deal priced at 109 via joint bookrunners, JP Morgan and Banc of America Securities. Ongoing strength in the high yield...