Bank Loan Report articles from July 2005

Bank Loan Report archives from July 2005

All Eyes On Toys "R" Us As Mega Deal Hits Asset-Based Loan Mart.
July 4, 2005... It's been a long time since the asset-based lending (ABL) market saw a new money deal the size of the $2 billion asset-based revolver that is a component of the debt financing for the leveraged buyout (LBO) of Toys "R" Us, Inc. While there...

Loan Fund Outflows Not An Expected Trend.
July 4, 2005... Although prime rate loan funds experienced outflows to the tune of about $103 million in the month of May (the first outflows recorded thus far for the year), loan market participants say this is nothing to be concerned about. Loan funds remain...

Distressed Gurus Jump To Vulture Funds.(Brief Article)
July 4, 2005... Defaults in corporate America hit an eight-year low of 2.2% in May, but CFOs should not get too comfortable with this state of affairs. Some of the brightest lights in the vulture fund business predict a surge in distressed situations by...

UAL Seeks To Upsize Institutional DIP Tranche, Extend Maturity.(debtor-in-possession )(Brief Article)
July 4, 2005... Last week, bankrupt airline company UAL Corp. said it is seeking to increase the term loan tranche of its debtor-in-possession (DIP) loan by $310 million, which would boost the total amount of the facility to $1.3 billion, the company said in a...

Citigroup, CIBC Sell Jarden Add-On.(CIBC World Markets)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2005... Last Wednesday, Citigroup and CIBC World Markets launched syndication of a $350 million, seven-year add-on to Jarden Corp.'s existing $950 million term loan B. The deal is being completed in connection with Rye, N.Y.-based Jarden's proposed...

Awaiting Ford Deal, Visteon Gets Short-Term Loan.
July 4, 2005... Last week, Visteon Corp. announced that it has closed a new $300 million revolver due December 2005, led by JPMorgan and Citigroup, that replaces the $565 million, 364-day revolver that matured June 17. The revolver, which the company said...

CSFB Shops Norcross Buyout Deal.
July 4, 2005... Last Tuesday, Credit Suisse First Boston launched syndication of a $138 million credit facility to, in part, finance Odyssey Investment Partners' proposed acquisition of Norcross Safety Products LLC from an investor group comprised of Trimaran...

Metropolitian West Acquires ING Capital's Loan Assets.(Metropolitan West Asset Management L.L.C.)(ING Capital Advisors)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2005... Last week, a subsidiary of Metropolitan West Asset Management, LLC announced it had agreed to acquire certain leveraged loan assets from ING Capital Advisors (ICA), which currently has about $2.l billion in assets under management. Details of...

SG To Start US Leveraged Finance Biz.(SG Corporate and Investment Bank)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2005... In a move designed to capitalize on its European leveraged finance business, SG Corporate & Investment Banking, the corporate and investment banking arm of the Societe Generale Group, announced last week that it plans to start up a leveraged...

Prudential Fixed Income Expands To Europe.(Prudential Fixed Income Advisors)(Brief Article)
July 4, 2005... Prudential Fixed Income recently announced that it has expanded its leveraged finance business. Prudential will begin investing in the European bank loan market on behalf of its institutional investors and affiliates, and will begin operations...

Ratings Movers: Genesco Up On Acq./AMLI Down To Spec Grade.
July 4, 2005... Genesco Inc. saw its ratings on its $175 million credit facility, among other ratings, boosted to Ba3 from B1 by Moody's Investors Service last week as a result of the successful integration of Hat World Corp., which the company acquired in...

BBB-/Baa3 Rated Ceridian, Arrow Aim To Stay Investment Grade.
July 4, 2005... It is common for BBB- rated companies with negative outlooks to eventually become fallen angels. In fact, of all BBB- rated companies with negative outlooks, 30% are eventually downgraded to speculative grade, according to a recent report by...

Despite Glitches, US Leveraged Loans Had A Strong Second Quarter.
July 11, 2005... Despite a few hiccups that rattled the market in the second quarter, overall issuance of US leveraged loans surpassed last year's half-year total and put the market on pace for over $500 billion for 2005. Leveraged loan volume issuance for the...

Euro Loan Mart Sees Fantastic Run' So Far.
July 11, 2005... In essence, the European leveraged loan market in the first half of 2005 continued along the same course it charted for itself in 2004 - one of intense new issuance, fueled by the strong enthusiasm of the European lending community. With...

Jumbo SunGard Deal Launches To Buyside.
July 11, 2005... Last Thursday, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank launched syndication of the much-anticipated $5 billion bank deal to back the leveraged buyout (LBO) of SunGard Data Systems Inc. by a consortium of private equity firms. The credit facility...

Lehman Begins Syndication Of $550M Key Energy Refinancing.
July 11, 2005... Last Thursday, sole lead Lehman Brothers launched syndication of a $550 million refinancing deal for Key Energy Services Inc. The deal is comprised of a $65 million, five-year revolver, a $400 million, seven-year term loan and an $85 million,...

Pacific Energy Taps BofA, Lehman For Valero Financing.
July 11, 2005... Last week, Pacific Energy Partners L.P. announced that it has tapped Bank of America and Lehman Brothers to provide the debt financing for the acquisition of certain pipeline and terminals from Valero L.P. The two banks have committed to a $400...

Banks Hired For Aspect Acquisition Financing.
July 11, 2005... JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers have been tapped to lead a $725 million credit facility in connection with the proposed buyout of Aspect Communications Corp. by private equity firm Golden Gate Capital. The deal, which is slated to...

Price Flex On Burger King.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... Institutional investors appeared to have a strong appetite for Burger King Corp.'s refinancing deal last week, as JPMorgan and Citigroup lowered pricing on the $750 million, seven-year term loan B to Libor plus 175 bps from Libor plus 200 bps....

S&P Raises Stein Roe CLO Rating.
July 11, 2005... Last week, Standard & Poor's raised its rating on the class B notes issued by Stein Roe & Farnham CLO I., Ltd to AA- from BBB-. The upgrade for the collateralized loan obligation (CLO), which is managed by Flagship Capital Management, was...

Spec Grade Default Rate Hits Eight-Year Low.(global speculative grade default rate)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... Last week, Moody's Investors Service reported that the global speculative grade default rate fell to 1.8% for second quarter 2005 from 2.2% for the first quarter. This is the lowest rate in eight years and about half of where it was at the same...

Moody's Pulls Issuer Ratings.(Moody's Investor Service)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... Last Thursday, Moody's Investors Service announced that it was withdrawing its issuer rating for over 1,000 speculative grade corporate issuers. The removal of the ratings will have no impact on an issuer's debt or corporate family ratings. ...

BNP Paribas Merges Desks.(European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) distribution and secondary desks)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... As part of an effort to boosts its leveraged loan business' sales and trading capabilities, BNP Paribas announced on July 4 that it is combining its European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) distribution and secondary desks. Stephanie...

Bamford Leaves Goldman For Barclays.(Mark Bamford appointed as managing director of Barclays Capital Inc)(Goldman Sachs)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... On June 30, Barclays Capital announced the appointment of Mark Bamford to managing director and head of Americas syndicate in support of the bank's continued expansion in the US debt market. Bamford joins Barclays from Goldman Sachs, where he...

S&P: Airline Ratings Not Affected By London Attacks.(Standard & Poor's Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... Although last week's terrorist attacks in London will probably harm business for US airlines with trans-Atlantic flights, their credit ratings or outlooks will most likely not be impacted, reported Standard & Poor's last Thursday. The major US...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
July 11, 2005... In BLR's 7/4/05 article, "Distressed Gurus Jump To Vulture Funds," data regarding bonds rated B- or lower were incorrectly attributed to research by Edward Altman, professor at New York University. Instead, the data comes from Standard &...

Fundamental Measures CFOs Can Employ To Manage Next Downturn by Joseph P. Powers, marketing manager, mid-Atlantic region, Bank of America Business Capital.(chief financial officer)
July 11, 2005... Analysts predict that the next market downturn is just a year or two away. Already, the robust economy of the past few years is showing some signs of weakness. While no one can predict when a downturn might occur, its arrival is inevitable. Are...

Germany: An Attractive Market For Euro Distressed Business.
July 11, 2005... Germany is a great place to find attractive distressed debt investment opportunities, said panelists at Strategic Research Institute's Eighth Annual Distressed Debt Investing Forum held late last month in New York. In fact, according to a...

Ratings Movers: Koch Ratings Raised/Exide Down On Leverage.
July 11, 2005... In light of its improved operating performance, debt reduction and better cash flow, Koch Cellulose, LLC's bank debt ratings, among other ratings, were boosted last week to Ba3 from B1 by Moody's Investors Service. The Brunswick, Ga.-based pulp...

Once Over-Inflated US Second Lien Market Is Settling Down.
July 18, 2005... Buy- and sell-side players in the leveraged loan market have been increasingly more optimistic that the market is back on track after shifting off course a bit in May following the weakness in high yield and the automotive downgrades. But it...

I-Grade Cos Opt For Longer Loan Tenors.
July 18, 2005... Over the last two years, there has been a consistent decline in the use of 364-day credit facilities among investment grade issuers. In fact, according to data from Loan Pricing Corp. (LPC), a mere 38 364-day credits were issued during the...

Homebuilding Sector Still On Up-And-Up.
July 18, 2005... Amidst a persistently robust housing market and steadfast consumer demand, the homebuilding sector is attempting to shake off its cyclicality. The present upturn in the housing sector has lasted since 1991, according to Robert Curran, senior...

JPM, CSFB Syndicate F+W Publications' Leveraged Buyout Deal.(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., Credit Suisse First Boston L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last week, joint lead arrangers JPMorgan and Credit Suisse First Boston went to market with a $400 million credit facility for F+W Publications. The deal includes a $50 million, six-year revolver; a $250 million, seven-year term loan B; and a...

BNY In Market With Patriot Media.(The Bank of New York., Patriot Media and Communications.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last Thursday, The Bank of New York held a bank meeting to launch general syndication of a $282 million credit facility for Patriot Media & Communications. The facility consists of a $25 million, seven-year revolver; a $50 million, seven-year...

Petrohawk Second Lien Oversubscribed.(PetroHawk Energy L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... The $150 million, five-year second lien term loan for Houston-based Petrohawk Energy Corp. was said to be oversubscribed halfway through syndication. Price talk for the second lien loan, which launched syndication earlier this month, is between...

Lehman, Citi Pitch EPCO Refi.(EPCO Holdings Inc., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Citigroup Inc.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last Thursday, Lehman Brothers and Citigroup launched syndication of a $1.9 billion credit facility for EPCO Holdings, Inc. The bank deal is comprised of a $300 million, three-year revolver, a $600 million, three-year term loan A and a $1...

UBS Shrinks Boart Longyear Second Lien, Lowers Pricing.(UBS Warburg L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last week, UBS shifted $25 million from the second lien tranche to the first lien tranche of the $500 million credit facility in connection with Advent International's acquisition of Boart Longyear Company. The facility is now comprised of a...

Meow Mix Gets Lower Rates.(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last week, UBS and Lehman Brothers set pricing on The Meow Mix Company's $215 million refinancing at Libor plus 325 bps with a step-down provision that can decrease pricing to Libor plus 300 bps when leverage reaches three times. The deal would...

Duo Launches AAT Refi.(AAT Communications Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Credit Suisse First Boston and TD Securities launched syndication last week of a $335 million bank facility for AAT Communications. The deal consists of a $50 million, six-and-a-half year revolver; a $200 million, seven-year term loan B; and an...

CSFB Shops Wastequip.(Credit Suisse First Boston L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last Tuesday, sole lead Credit Suisse First Boston launched syndication of a $255 million credit facility to finance, in part, the $308 million acquisition of Wastequip, Inc. by DLJ Merchant Banking Partners from CIVC Partners. The bank deal is...

Hanley Wood Buyout Deal Launches To Buyside.(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last week, Credit Suisse First Boston and JPMorgan launched syndication of a $352 million credit facility to finance, in part, the proposed acquisition of Hanley Wood, LLC by two private equity firms. The facility is comprised of a $60 million,...

Markit Launches Comprehensive Product.(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last week, the Markit Group Limited launched Markit Portal, a comprehensive Web-based product that allows users to view pricing across asset classes and gives them access to recent news and market research. "The objective is to provide...

LSTA To Host 10-Year Anniversary Party.(Loan Syndications and Trading Association.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... On Thursday, July 21, the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA) is scheduled to host a party for LSTA members to celebrate its 10-year anniversary and to thank its members. The event, which will feature a jazz singer and a video of...

SG CIB Hires Three Staffers For Euro Loan Teams.(SG Corporate and Investment Bank appoints Jonathan Pughe, Garry Mueller, Alvaro Merry Del Val)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... In further building its European loan syndication business, SG Corporate & Investment Banking (SG CIB) announced three new appointments last week. Jonathan Pughe was appointed director, flow loan syndicate, and will be based in London. He...

GE CF Media Appoints Byrne To New Post.(GE Commercial Finance Global Media & Communications appoints Thomas M. Byrne)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... GE Commercial Finance Global Media & Communications has appointed Thomas M. Byrne as senior vice president of origination. His duties will include originating and structuring debt transactions for cable and telecom companies. Byrne will be...

Babson Gets New CCO.(Babson Capital Management L.L.C. appoints Jan Jumet)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last week, Babson Capital Management LLC, a Massachusetts-based investment management firm, announced the appointment of Jan Jumet as chief compliance officer (CCO). Jumet's responsibilities will include overseeing a 22-person compliance team...

AEG Brings On Two More MDs.(AEG Partners appoints Daniel Bender and Stephen L. Kunkel as managing directors )(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... AEG Partners, a strategic advisory firm that caters to distressed middle market companies, announced two appointments to its Chicago office last week. Daniel Bender and Stephen L. Kunkel have both been appointed as managing directors and their...

New Position For S&P's Coughlin.(Standard & Poor's Corp.'s Paul Coughlin)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... Last week, Standard & Poor's announced that Paul Coughlin, previously managing director of S&P's corporate and government ratings division for the Asian region, has been appointed to a new position as executive managing director for global...

Ratings Movers: Accuride's Up On Prepay/Valero Down On Acq.
July 18, 2005... Paying down its term loan debt paid off for Accuride Corp., which saw ratings on its $695 million credit facility, among other ratings, boosted to B1 from B2 last week by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's attributed the upgrade partly to the...

Restructuring Gurus Outline The ABCs Of A Successful Turnaround.(Panel Discussion)
July 18, 2005... Liquidity, transparency and sound management are just three of the many critical components that lead to an effective corporate restructuring, according to restructuring gurus who spoke on a recent panel at Strategic Research Institute's Eighth...

SunGard Mega Bank Deal Closes As Banks Pitch Junk Bonds.(SunGard Data Systems Inc.)
July 25, 2005... After four months of speculation and two weeks of syndication, it was done. Late last week, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley wrapped up syndication of the $5 billion credit facility to back the $11.3 billion...

Avenue Capital Prices Avenue CLO II.(Avenue Capital Management, collateralized loan obligation)
July 25, 2005... Last week, Avenue Capital Management, a New York-based investment management firm, priced a new collateralized loan obligation (CLO): The $450 million Avenue CLO II Ltd. This is Avenue's second CLO - its first vehicle, the $400 million Avenue...

Closed-End Funds Enter Discount Phase.
July 25, 2005... After enjoying roughly a two-year stint of trading at healthy premiums, closed-end loan funds are no longer such a hot commodity in the retail market. Since about March, the funds have been trading at a discount across the board, according to...

Another Mega Bank Deal Emerges - This Time For Huntsman.(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Last week, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup began syndicating a $2.6 billion bank deal in connection with Huntsman Corp.'s announced merger of Huntsman LLC and Huntsman International LLC. The deal is split between a $600 million revolver due 2010...

Anchor Glass May Seek Bankruptcy.
July 25, 2005... Last week, Anchor Glass Container Corp., which said it posted "substantially lower than expected" results for May and June, reported it may go bankrupt if it does not obtain an amendment to the covenants on its revolvers. If it doesn't receive...

Flowserve Taps BofA, Merrill For Refi.(refinancing, Merrill Lynch and Company Inc.)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Last week, Flowserve Corp. announced that it received a commitment from Bank of America and Merrill Lynch for a $1 billion refinancing deal that consists of a $400 million revolver and $600 million in term loans. The company is also seeking to...

El Paso Seeks $500M Revolver For Acquisition.(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Last week, El Paso Corp. said it is seeking a $500 million, five-year revolver to finance, in part, its proposed acquisition of Medicine Bow Energy Corp. Last week, the Houston-based energy company announced its plans to acquire privately held...

UBS Upsizes Regency Gas.(Regency Gas Services LLC)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Last week, sole lead UBS restructured the sizes of the tranches of the upsized $460 million credit facility for Regency Gas Services LLC. The deal is now comprised of a $150 million, five-year revolver, a $260 million, six-year term loan and a...

LSTA To Publish Book.(Loan Syndications and Trading Association)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Last week, the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA) announced that it has signed a contract with The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. to publish a book on the loan market titled, The Handbook Of Loan Syndications And Trading. In...

Potential Fallen Angels Up From 2004.(default rates)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Default rates may be nearing at an eight-year low, but the number of potential fallen angels appears to be on the rise from 2004, according to a recent report by Standard & Poor's. As of July 14, there were 47 potential global fallen angels...

Fitch Appoints Hrvatin To Head Group.(Fitch Ratings, Richard Hrvatin )(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Fitch Ratings recently announced the appointment of Richard Hrvatin as head of the US/North American credit derivatives group. Hrvartin has been at Fitch since 1998. In his new role, he will report to Jill Zelter, a managing director in Fitch's...

Gress Joins Wachovia In New Position.(Alex Gress, Wachovia Securities )(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Alex Gress has joined Wachovia Securities in a newly created role responsible for working with leveraged finance and private equity sponsor coverage, offering structured finance alternatives to traditional debt financings. In the new position,...

BofA Appoints Three To London-Based Global Markets.(Bank of America)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Bank of America announced that it has made three new senior appointments to its London-based global markets group. Anthony Brennan will join BofA as managing director, responsible for the loan capital markets business in EMEA leveraged finance....

Calyon Hires Two For Global Loans.(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Calyon recently announced two appointments to their global loan syndication group. Samantha Stephenson will soon be the director of the group's leverage syndication team. Stephenson will report to Michael Sheren, head of leveraged and...

BofA BC Names New Division Prez.(Bank of America Business Capital, appointments)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... Bank of America Business Capital (BofA BC) has named Daniel deBrauwere as Pacific/Southwest Division president. He will report to Joyce White, president of BofA BC. DeBrauwere will be responsible for loan origination, underwriting and client...

CIT To Buy Health-Care Biz.(CIT Group Inc., Healthcare Business Credit Corporation)(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... The CIT Group Inc. announced last week that it will acquire Healthcare Business Credit Corporation, a health-care financing company that specializes in asset-based and cash-flow financing to US health-care providers. Although terms of the deal...

Beverage Sector Is Stable, But Beware Of High Leverage Levels.
July 25, 2005... The beverage sector appears to be on track for continued stable performance, but with five out of 35 companies rated by Moody's Investors Service either on review for downgrade or with negative outlooks, it is evident that some companies in the...

Ratings Movers: Frontier Gets A Boost/AMF Bowling Not Spared.
July 25, 2005... The number of bank debt rating downgrades outpaced the number of upgrades last week. Still, Frontier Oil Corp. did manage to get a boost from Fitch Ratings, as its $225 million revolver was upgraded one notch to BB from BB-. "The rating action...