Bank Loan Report articles from February 2009

Bank Loan Report archives from February 2009

Distressed Gets Hot, Some Get Cold Shoulder.(News)(distressed debts)
February 2, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals While distressed companies are garnering a lot of attention from investors, with many planning to up their distressed exposure this year, those investments are going to be aimed at specific high-performing...

Bankruptcy Round '09: Creditors Take The Gloves Off.(News)
February 2, 2009... Byline: Carol J. Clouse No one ever called bankruptcy pretty, but when searching for an analogy for this cycle as compared to those of the past, Black Friday at the Macy's shoe department comes to mind. Maybe that's a bit strong, as it...

CLO Managers Face Mounting Troubles.(News)
February 2, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals For CLO managers, watching the declining performance of their underlying collateral has been about as much fun as a Tijuana jail. And it doesn't look like they'll make bail anytime soon. A number of issues...

BofA Loan Chief Among 1,900 Cut In London.(Loan Market Buzz)
February 2, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff As part ofa plan to reduce its headcount by 35,000, Bank of America has cut roughly 1,900 jobs in London following its acquisition of Merrill Lynch. The layoffs included Charles Bingham, BofA's head of loan...

Preemptive Bankruptcies May Increase.(News)
February 2, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan While the recession promises to send many companies into bankruptcy, some might go there on their own ahead of time, joining the universe of distressed exchanges and other measures used for coping with oncoming...

Term Sheets.(Term Sheets)
February 2, 2009... Byline: Carol J. Clouse Exco Operating LOCATION: Dallas, TX PACKAGE AMOUNT: $300 mil. AMOUNT: $300 mil. ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT: JP Morgan BOOKRUNNER: JP Morgan & Co Inc OTHER LENDERS: JP Morgan; Calyon; Wells Fargo...

BTIG Starts Fixed Income Group With UBS, Citi Vets.(News)(UBS veteran Jon Bass and former Citi executive John Purcell)
February 9, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan Two fixed income veterans have set up shop at a brokerage house where no fixed income group existed previously. UBS veteran Jon Bass and former Citi executive John Purcell are now co-heads of global fixed income...

Should The Government Guarantee DIPs?(News)(debtor in possession)
February 9, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals To assure banks begin to dole out more debtor-in-possession financings, some market participants say the government should step in and guarantee some or all DIP financings. However, others argue that allowing the...

He Who Has The Gold Makes The Rules.(Editor's Note)(Editorial)
February 9, 2009... Byline: Carol J. Clouse It's hard to deny that the party holding the cash generally holds it with the upper hand. Not always fair, true. But in the case of limits on executive pay for the heads of companies receiving "extraordinary...

Europe's Banks Need Government Life Support.(News)
February 9, 2009... Byline: Savita Iyer-Ahrestani Further write-downs in structured credit and more trading book losses; a marked deterioration in loan quality given the economic recession; continued downward pressure on earnings because of a serious decline...

Banks Shop $22 Billion Bridge Loan For Pfizer.(Loan Market Buzz)
February 9, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff A bank consortium is shopping a $22.5 billion, 364-day bridge loan and a $4 billion revolver for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.The bridge loan's terms,a symptom of current market conditions, read like a list of...

Exchange Vet Returns To Changed Market.(News)
February 9, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan The last time James Schneider oversaw a debt exchange, Bill Clinton was still going through the rough spots of his first term as President, and students at the University of North Carolina were planning the first...

Realogy's Failed Exchange Could Provide Road Map.(News)
February 9, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals Members of the global private equity practice at international law firm Paul Hastings believe Realogy's failed bond-for-loan exchange could provide guidance on future cases. Specifically, it could offer guidance...

The Time Is Right, But Can You Pick 'Em?(Editors Note)(Editorial)
February 16, 2009... Byline: Carol J. Clouse As the storm that hovered over the high yield debt markets for the second half of 2008 appears to recede, some junk managers are treading default ridden waters hoping to find that oyster with the pearl. And...

Freescale Looks To Bondholders To Finance New TL.(News)(Freescale Semiconductor)
February 16, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals Freescale Semiconductor, an Austin, Texas-based microchip maker, is trying to land $1 billion from lenders for a new senior secured term loan to help shore up liquidity. But because financing is so hard to come...

Wachovia: 36% More CLOs Breach Tests.(Loan Market Buzz)
February 16, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff Wachovia reported that the number of CLOs breaching their overcollateralization and interest diversion tests increased by 36% in January. The increase means that 125 of the 508 U.S. CLOs sold since 2002 breached...

Q&A: Needleman Sees More Moves Ahead.(Q&A)(Eric Needleman)(Interview)
February 16, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan After heading the high yield group at KBC Financial Products for five years, Eric Needleman, along with the rest of the KBC high yield team, packed up in January and moved to Sterne Agee. While the move is not a...

Sponsor-to-Sponsor Deals May Breathe Life Into PE.(News)(private equity )
February 16, 2009... Byline: Ken Macfadyen As of early February, the private equity market remained dead. Lenders, still gun-shy, are only backing the strongest credits, while potential targets have little incentive to sell into the teeth of an historic...

Leveraged Loan Market Feels The Love.(News)
February 16, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals Leveraged loan investors are blushing. And it's not from a kiss on Valentines Day. For the first seven weeks of 2009, the leveraged loan market gave investors some much-needed loving. Year-to-date returns are...

Term Sheets.(Term Sheets)
February 16, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff Actuant Corp. LOCATION: Butler, WI PACKAGE AMOUNT: $515 mil. ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT: JP Morgan SYNDICATION AGENT: BankAmerica; Wells Fargo Bank DOCUMENTATION AGENT: Marshall & Ilsley Bank; US...

Companies Keep Busy Filing Bankruptcies.(News)
February 23, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan This year is fast becoming one dominated by bankruptcies. February alone has seen at least seven bankruptcies among speculative-grade companies, and there are likely to be many more. "Clearly the momentum is...

In Trading, Large Bank Pain Is Small Firm Gain.(News)
February 23, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan A sea change is stirring in the sales and trading world of leveraged finance. The shakeout at the large banks has been countered by high yield debt and distressed groups forming or expanding at smaller firms. And...

Loan Investors Look To CAMs For Equality.(News)
February 23, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals For investors who have lent to companies operating in various countries, egalitarianism at the time of recovery comes in the form of a collateral allocation mechanism. This legal provision, some market...

New Ratings Mean New Problems For CLO Managers.(News)
February 23, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals On February 4, Moody's Investors Service revised the rating methodology it uses to rate CLOs, spurring a rash of CLO downgrades that has yet to end. As a result, CLO managers have begun requesting amendments to...

Sirius Dodges Bullet; Do Debt Holders?(Editors Note)
February 23, 2009... Byline: Carol J. Clouse This was a Sirius save. With bankruptcy charging around the bend, Liberty Media rode in on its horse, you know the color, and snatched Sirius XM Radio from the clutches of doom. Or so the story goes. Not that...

GM Bondholders Hold Out For More.(Loan Market Buzz)
February 23, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff General Motors bondholders are digging in their heels, hoping to be paid more when the beleaguered car maker exchanges their bonds for equity. On Feb. 17, GM submitted an amended restructuring plan to the U.S....

Euro Market Is Breath of Fresh Air for F&C.(News)
February 23, 2009... Byline: Savita Iyer-Ahrestani High yield market participants in Europe couldn't have been happier with the bonds issued a few weeks ago by health-care concern Fresenius. The first high yield deal in 18 months, many believed it would also...