Bank Loan Report articles from December 2004

Bank Loan Report archives from December 2004

Could Loans Be Reclassified As Securities? Pitt Assumes Worst.
December 6, 2004... Could some bank loan programs be reclassified as securities - an eventuality that would rock the loan market to its foundations? It is possible, according to former Securities and Exchange Commission head Harvey Pitt, who is currently head...

Slowly But Surely, Market's Dabbling In CDS.(credit default swap)
December 6, 2004... Thinking of hedging your leveraged loan portfolio or collateralized loan obligation (CLO)? Consider the high yield credit default swap (CDS) market, says Arvind Rajan, managing director and global head of structured credit research and strategy...

Auto Sector Outlook Looks Grim.
December 6, 2004... What's going to happen to the auto sector is one question on the mind of many debt investors, including those in the distressed world looking for opportunities. Last week, attendees and panelists at Renaissance American Management's and Beard...

JPM, Bear Stearns Shop Scientific Games Refinancing.(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co.)
December 6, 2004... JP Morgan and Bear Stearns launched syndication last Thursday, December 2, of a credit facility for Scientific Games Corp., which is planning to replace its existing senior credit facilities with a five-year, $200 million revolver and a...

Constellation Brands Emerges With Mondavi Acquisition Deal.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Last Thursday also saw the syndication launch for the JP Morgan- and Merrill Lynch-led $2.9 billion credit for Constellation Brands in support of its some $1.36 billion purchase of The Robert Mondavi Corp. The credit facility includes a $500...

American Airlines Lands In Market With Redux.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Citigroup and JP Morgan launched syndication of an $850 million refinancing for American Airlines last week. The $850 million deal for the troubled airline includes a $600 million, four-and-a-half-year revolver and a $250 million, six-year term...

DebtX Plans Commercial Real Estate Loan Sale.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Loan sale advisor DebtX announced that it plans to put nearly $100 million in commercial real estate loans up for bid on Dec. 14. This sale follows on the heels of a Nov. 16 transaction in which the loan sale advisor sold $57 million in...

CHUM Wraps Up Credit To Back Craig Media Buy.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Canadian media company CHUM Limited's $500 million, Canadian dollar-denominated refinancing credit closed out last week in conjunction with its $265 million purchase of Craig Media. Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank lead the...

Ex-CIBC Staffer Goes Corporate At Magnum Hunter Resources.(CIBC World Markets)
December 6, 2004... Last week, Texas-based Magnum Hunter Resources announced that it hired former CIBC World Markets staffer, Mark H. Wolf, as its new vice president of finance. Wolf has served as a financial consultant to the oil and gas exploration and...

Morgan Stanley Shifts Around Asian And Australian Staffers.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Morgan Stanley recently changed the roles of some of its Asian dealmakers, including Gokul Laroia, formerly head of Asia M&A at the firm. Laroia will become head of regional global capital markets. Matt Hanning, who headed up Australian...

Euro Non-Financial Corporates Look Good Through 2005.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Moody's expects a positive trend in credit quality among European non-financial corporates through 2005, as noted in a recently released report on the outlook of corporate Europe for 2005. While no significant deterioration in rating quality is...

Is Restructuring Considered A Credit Event For Your HY CDS?(high yield)(credit default swaps)
December 6, 2004... The high yield credit derivatives market is booming, with single-name credit default swaps (CDS) having grown from 8% of the surveyed credit derivatives market to 18% of the $2.8 trillion market in 2003. That's nearly a 300% increase, says...

AlixPartners: Employing A Hands-On Restructuring Approach.
December 6, 2004... As one of the top restructuring firms in the industry, AlixPartners has garnered a strong reputation due to its successful hands-on approach - often through the attainment of senior management positions on an interim basis - for turnarounds,...

Investors Unsure Of Successful Kmart/Sears Union.
December 6, 2004... Investors are still talking about the Kmart Corp. and Sears, Roebuck & Co. merger, and the talk hasn't been altogether positive. In fact, distressed investors polled at Renaissance American Management's and Beard Group's 11th Annual Conference...

Debt Reduction May Take Backseat As Airlines Still Struggle.
December 13, 2004... The US airline industry, which has been in pretty poor shape over the past couple of years, looks set to face another year of challenges, according to Fitch Ratings' analyst William Warlick. And chances are that much-needed debt reduction will...

CFOs Size Up Lending Climate.(Chief financial officers)
December 13, 2004... It looks like manufacturing company CFOs were tremendously confident in their company's ability to gain financing this past year. In fact, out of the 600 CFOs surveyed in Bank of America Business Capital's (BofA BC) seventh annual "Survey of...

Pro Offers Tips To Distressed Players.(Jay Alix, founding principal of AlixPartners LLC.)
December 13, 2004... Jay Alix, founding principal of AlixPartners, has certainly made a name for himself in the restructuring space, so much so that he was recently awarded the annual Harvey R. Miller Outstanding Achievement Award for Service to the Restructuring...

Texas Genco Financing Closes Out, Term Loan B Trades Up.
December 13, 2004... Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup completed the increased $2.494 billion bank debt financing package for the buyout of Texas Genco last week. The now $1.625 billion first lien term loan's pricing was flexed down...

BNP Paribas, UBS Launch Knowledge Learning Acquisition Deal.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... BNP Paribas and UBS launched syndication of a $640 million credit facility last week to support Knowledge Learning Corp.'s acquisition of Portland, Ore.-based KinderCare Learning Centers. The deal is said to consist of a five-year, $100 million...

Universal Compression Hits Market With Refi.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... Wachovia Securities and JP Morgan launched syndication last Wednesday of a $650 million senior secured credit facility for Universal Compression. The facility consists of a $250 million, five-year revolver and a $400 million, seven-year term...

Bank Duo Shops AMI Add-On.(Associated Materials Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... UBS and Citigroup brought to market last week a $42 million add-on to Associated Materials' (AMI) existing $133 million term loan B. The revised loan was sought in connection with global investment firm Investcorp's decision to invest $150...

Landry's To Refinance Long Term Debt With New Line.(Landry's Restaurants Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... Wachovia, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank kicked off syndication last week of a $400 million credit facility consisting of a five-year, $250 million revolver and a six-year, $150 million term loan B for Landry's Restaurants. The revolver is...

John Henry LBO Facility Emerges.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... Last Monday, Wachovia launched syndication of a $110 million credit facility to back the purchase of The John Henry Company by Bear Stearns Merchant Banking and Jefferson Capital Partners. The facility includes a six-year, $25 million revolver...

Apptis Credit In Support of SETA Purchase Syndicates.(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... Wachovia also launched syndication earlier this month of a $130 million credit facility for Apptis, a private information-technology (IT) provider that primarily supports the US government. The new facility includes a $30 million, five-year...

US Second Liens Put A Damper On Recovery Ratings Average.
December 13, 2004... The chances for a high rate of loan recovery in the event of default appears to be slim these days, according to a new report released last week by Standard & Poor's addressing its recovery ratings product one year after inception....

See You Next Year!
December 13, 2004... This will be BLR's last publication before Thomson Media Newsletters' holiday season publishing hiatus. There will be no issues for December 20th, December 27th and January 3rd. The next issue of BLR will be in print Jan. 10, 2005. Season's...