Bank Loan Report articles from April 2007

Bank Loan Report archives from April 2007

Leverage Finance Markets May Implant $7B In Biomet.
April 2, 2007... Leveraged buyout firms have not been shy recently about going into markets that were previously thought off-limits. Highly technical companies that require complex navigation of technology, law and policy were once the fiefdom of narrowly...

Investors Cynical About Goodyear Pricing.
April 2, 2007... The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is rolling a new credit facility onto the market to refinance existing debt. Though the collateral on the loans appears to be sufficient, the price talk of Libor plus 125 bps on the first lien, Libor plus 175 bps...

Second Liens Not Guaranteed Second Place.
April 2, 2007... The proverbial middle child of the credit family, the second-lien loan appears the number-two heir to the recovery throne, behind the first-lien - read: first born - yet in front of sibling number three, the high yield bond. The second lien's...

Bank Group Launches $2.5 Billion Delta Exit Plan.
April 2, 2007... JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, UBS, and Barclays Capital are in the market with a $2.5 billion exit facility for Delta Air Lines. The new debt, which launched last Thursday, will consist of a five-year $1 billion...

Bank Duo Arranges Amerigroup Appeal.
April 2, 2007... Goldman Sachs and Wachovia are in the market with a new credit facility for health care provider Amerigroup Corp. The debt package consists of a five-year $50 million revolver and a $351.3 million synthetic letter of credit. Proceeds will be...

CS Sends Maguire Into Market.
April 2, 2007... Lead arranger Credit Suisse, along with Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, is shopping an $825 million credit facility for Maguire Properties that launched last Wednesday (BLR, Mar. 12, 2007). The new debt, which consists of a four-year $200...

UBS Commits To Lenox Refi.(refinancing debt, Lenox Group)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... UBS launched a $275 million credit facility for Lenox Group last Thursday, in order to refinance the company's existing debt and fund working capital requirements. The new debt includes a $175 million asset-based loan and a $100 million term...

Investor Push-back Sends Realogy To Reprice.
April 2, 2007... JPMorgan, Credit Suisse and Bear Stearns are heading back to the market with a revamped debt package for Realogy Corp., to be used to fund its $9 billion buyout by Domus Acquisition Corp., an affiliate of Apollo Management LP. Investors pushed...

JPM Merges Euro High Yield and Loans Under Orssten.
April 2, 2007... JPMorgan is merging its European high yield and loan capital markets businesses in London under the direction of Kristian Orssten. The merger is specific to Europe and in response to continued convergence that is occurring in the European high...

Calyon Taps Herzog For Loans, Weinstein To Head Capital Markets.
April 2, 2007... Calyon, the corporate and investment banking arm of French bank Credit Agricole Group, announced the hire of Gary Herzog as head of its loan syndications group in the Americas. Herzog will report to Jerome Le Jamtel, managing director and head...

LMA To Host Euro Conference In NYC.
April 2, 2007... Europe's Loan Market Association is hosting a conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York on April 15. Speakers include Guy Davies of Permira; David Slade of Credit Suisse; Steve Hickey of Goldman Sachs; Richard Jackson of HSBC; Leander...

New Primoris Program Bets On Corporate Credit.
April 2, 2007... Deutsche Bank is bringing to the market the first series of notes to be issued from asset manager State Street Global Advisors - Primoris CDO 2007-1, a long/short structure. Primoris obtained ratings for both seven-year and 10-year transactions...

RatingsMovers: Hexcel Takes Off With Asset Sales, Travelport Crushed By Debt.
April 2, 2007... Hexcel Corp.'s ratings got a boost last week when Standard & Poor's upgraded the aerospace supplier's $125 million revolver and $225 million term loan B to BB from BB-. The upgrade reflects improving credit protection measures from a...

Roundtable: The Restructuring Elite Await Their Next Boom.(Discussion)
April 2, 2007... First of a Two-Part Series A group of restructuring pros recently sat down with BLR sister publication IDD to discuss the state of the market, and while consensus was hard to reach on most topics, they had little trouble agreeing on one:...

First-Quarter Leveraged Loan Volume Nearly Doubles From 2006.
April 9, 2007... The U.S. leveraged loan market continued its gangbusters pace through the first quarter, no surprise to market participants who expect the new year to maintain the record lending pattern set in 2006. Total U.S. leveraged loan volume almost...

European Loans Go The Yankee Route.
April 9, 2007... Recaps and a repricing for Danish telecom operator TDC that left the deal structure unchanged: These were the highlights of the European leveraged loan market in the first quarter of this year - a market that, according to David Slade, head of...

GSC Slates New Fund For Bigger Opportunities.
April 9, 2007... GSC Group recently announced the close of its 13th CDO fund since April 2000. The GSC CDO VIII, LTD is a $350 million collateralized loan obligation that will invest 30% in middle-market loans and 70% in broadly syndicated leveraged loans. The...

Banks Shop Patheon Refi On Slow Week.
April 9, 2007... New issuance was slow this week, as bankers and investors ducked out early for the holidays after finalizing their first-quarter numbers. One of the small number of deals to hit the market was a $225 million facility for Patheon, which launched...

Lehman Tacks On Waste Debt.
April 9, 2007... Waste Services is tacking on an additional $50 million to its existing $245.2 million term loan arranged by Lehman Brothers. The proceeds will be used to repay outstanding debt under the company's revolver, some of which was needed to...

Horizon Prepays Term Loan.
April 9, 2007... Horizon Lines is paying back $25 million on its $250 million term loan arranged by UBS. The prepayment follows a prior $25 million prepayment on Dec. 14, 2006 and brings the total principal payments since Sept. 29, 2006 to $55.6 million. Along...

Bank Of New York Forms Leveraged Finance Group.
April 9, 2007... The Bank of New York recently announced the formation of a leveraged and syndicated finance group within BNY Capital Markets. Managing directors Glenn Autorino and Dean Stephan will lead the new team as co-heads. Autorino has more than 20 years...

GE Taps Fleming for Middle-Market Media.
April 9, 2007... GE Commercial Finance recently announced the appointment of Matthew Fleming as senior vice president for its media, communications and entertainment division. In his new position, Fleming will focus on originating transactions in the...

Jefferies Forms High Yield Trading Group.
April 9, 2007... Jefferies Group announced the formation of Jefferies High Yield Trading, LLC (JHYT) last week. The new broker-dealer will provide secondary market trading activities and will be run by Chief Executive Officer Richard Handler, along with the...

LMA To Host Euro Conference In NYC.
April 9, 2007... The Loan Market Association is hosting a conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York on April 15. Speakers - including Guy Davies of Permira; David Slade of Credit Suisse; Steve Hickey of Goldman Sachs; Richard Jackson of HSBC; Leander...

Ratings Movers: Waste Services Cleans Up Operations, Culligan Down On Recap.
April 9, 2007... Waste Services' senior secured debt looked squeaky clean last week, when Standard & Poor's upgraded the company's $15 million Canadian revolver, its $45 million U.S. revolver and its $295 million term loan D to B+ from B. The upgrade...

The Final Chapter: Negotiations In Restructuring.(Interview)
April 9, 2007... Second of a Two-Part Series A group of restructuring pros recently sat down with BLR sister publication IDD to discuss the state of the debt market, looming bankruptcies, private equity's role in restructuring and how things just might...

Tribune Buyout To Deliver Newsworthy Credit.
April 16, 2007... The recent pairing of real estate tycoon Sam Zell and newspaper and broadcast empire Tribune Co. may seem like an odd coupling. But if approved, the unique transaction - structured to take place in a two-step process - will present an...

Retail To Continue Spending Spree.
April 16, 2007... Aggressive financial activities such as leveraged buyouts, dividends and share repurchases have demonstrated that relatively few retailers are focused on materially paying down debt to migrate toward a higher rating category, according to a...

Calavritinos Invests Outside The Bonds.
April 16, 2007... For Arthur Calavritinos, the insight gained from investing beyond high yield bonds actually improves a portfolio manager's high yield performance. "I invest in equities, I invest in bank debt, convertibles; I'm a full investor. I use all...

Loan Market News.
April 16, 2007... Bank Duo Arranges $800 Million Express Recap Joint lead arrangers Citigroup and Credit Suisse are tacking on a five-year $800 million delayed-draw term loan for Express Scripts. The loan, which launched last Monday, will be used for a...

Shareholder Activists Get By With A Little Help From A Lot Of Leverage.
April 16, 2007... Debt is king in the new world order. Marking the latest trend in shareholder activism, disgruntled shareholders and beguiled stock analysts admonish against accepting going-private proposals, gambling that buyers will raise their prices. Even...

Ratings Movers: Foster Wheeler Up On Earnings, USI Holdings Down On Acquisition.
April 16, 2007... Industrial engineering, construction and maintenance company Foster Wheeler LLC moved into investment-grade territory last week when Moody's Investors Service upgraded the company's $200 million revolver and $150 million letter of credit to...

Laureate Education Seeks $2.2 Billion For Divisive LBO.
April 23, 2007... An educational company hopes to get the attention of leveraged finance investors before the end of the quarter in order to finance a management-led LBO. Laureate Education plans to price $2.2 billion in high yield bonds and term loans to help...

Investors Toss Their Chips On Las Vegas Sands.
April 23, 2007... Las Vegas Sands has been a name in the credit market for some time now, and investors have long been gambling on the hotel, gaming and resort development company to win positive returns. The company's latest offering, a $5 billion credit...

Churchill Financial Taps Into Mezzanine Lending.(Churchill Financial)(Company overview)
April 23, 2007... New York-based commercial finance and asset management company Churchill Financial completed its acquisition of Churchill Capital's mezzanine finance business last week. Through the merger, which will solidify two business platforms that have...

Not Shaken Or Stirred But A Nice Market Wrap.
April 23, 2007... Many of us would have liked Sean Connery to play James Bond forever. We like consistency, because it's comforting, like a favorite song. (And who would argue that he wasn't the best Bond?) Still, in most cases change is a good thing, even...

Loan Market Surges After Early April Slowdown.
April 23, 2007... The leveraged loan market got busy last week, quickly making up for the holiday slowdown earlier this month. And pricing began to widen, heading back into the comfortably snug 200s bps range, for some deals, from its previous chokehold in the...

Spreads Due To Widen As Risk Rises.
April 23, 2007... History tells us that credit spreads are due to widen, but so far the credit market is continuing on with business as usual, even though economic growth may not be as robust as previously thought. At the same time, risk in the credit market is...

Wall Streeters Give Back Through NYC's Urban Dove.(Urban Dove)(Company overview)
April 23, 2007... Taking the Metro North from New Canaan, with a transfer to the subway line at Grand Central, provides little glimpse at the struggle many New York City youth face in their day-to-day lives. Because of this, it can be difficult for Wall Street's...

Carlyle/Babson Close CLO Funds.
April 23, 2007... Washington D.C.-based private equity firm The Carlyle Group announced the close of its 10th U.S. loan fund, Carlyle High Yield Partners X, Ltd, a $400 million CLO. Carlyle's U.S. Leveraged Finance Group has closed three CLOs with a total of...

Ratings Movers: GenTek Up On Cash Flow, Advance Food Falls On First Lien.
April 23, 2007... A selection of companies in the leveraged loan market made structural changes last week, sending ratings agencies back to their books to reassess risk and adjust ratings accordingly. Some companies saw boosts, while others struggled with...

Community Health Acquisition Keeps Eyes On Health Care.
April 30, 2007... With the success of the initial HCA buyout in November 2006, the company's subsequent repricing this February and Health Management Associates' $2.4 billion debt-funded dividend, also in February, it seems investors are gobbling up credit in...

Six Flags Unleashes Newest Facility, Leverage Climbs Higher.
April 30, 2007... With summer only weeks away, Six Flags is gearing up for what it hopes will be a profitable season, especially after last year's rain-drenched one. The New York-based regional theme park company, known for monstrous roller coasters such as...

Aero & Defense Aims For New Mix.
April 30, 2007... Some of the products that aerospace and defense companies make can travel so fast that they break the sound barrier, but companies that build these fast machines know that a slowdown is on the way. And their preparations for a future downturn...

What If The Buyout Boys Throw A Party, And Nobody Comes?
April 30, 2007... The buyout boom keeps banging and rumbling along, breaking records as it goes. Year-to-date U.S. volume for announced targets was $172.40 billion as of April 18, according to data provider Dealogic. That's nearly three times the $66.29 billion...

Loan Market Recapitalizes On Spending Spree.
April 30, 2007... While the subprime mortgage market is paddling to stay afloat, and high yield issuance seems to be somewhat softer lately, everything is still rosy in the leveraged loan market, investors say. Leveraged loan issuance continued its frenzied pace...

Will Diminishing Equity Returns Impact Euro CLOs/Loan Market?
April 30, 2007... It's by no means an immediate concern, just something that's out there, but nonetheless, the diminishing returns on CLO equity are not going unnoticed in Europe. For some leveraged loan bankers, they're a barometer for the future health...

Ratings Movers: W. Scotsman Up On IPO, Recycled Papers Crumples On Covenants.
April 30, 2007... Baltimore-based modular space solution provider Williams Scotsman was on the rise last week, when Moody's Investors Service upgraded the company's $650 million term loan to B1 from B2. The ratings upgrade was the result of improved...