Bank Loan Report articles from June 2005

Bank Loan Report archives from June 2005

Market Hiccups Prompt Return Of OIDs, Upward Price Flexes.(original issue discount)
June 6, 2005... After spending more than a year hunting for credits in a market characterized by extremely tight pricing spreads, highly levered deals and loose covenant structures, investors in the leveraged loan market are finally catching a break, albeit a...

Investors Seek Subdued Leverage Levels.
June 6, 2005... For the better part of this year, the leverage multiples on syndicated loan deals have been at unprecedented highs. Arrangers, confident of being able to sell paper to a hungry investor base, pushed the leverage envelope and brought deals that...

Airlines Continue To Face Credit Woes.
June 6, 2005... As the dust settles after Fitch Ratings handed a two-notch credit downgrade to Northwest Airlines Corp. last week, sector analysts say that the problems plaguing the debt-ridden airline company are unfortunately symptomatic of the industry as a...

Laidlaw's Bank Deal Launches As It Becomes A Rising Star.
June 6, 2005... Last Wednesday, Citigroup and UBS hit the market with a $600 million credit facility for Laidlaw International, Inc., the once-bankrupt bus company that reached investment grade status last week. The bank deal, which is part of a larger...

Bank Duo To Shop Carter's.(BankAmerica Corp. and Credit Suisse First Boston L.L.C. for William Carter Co.'s acquisition of Oshkosh B'Gosh Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... The William Carter Co., a subsidiary of Carter's, Inc. is set to hit the market Tuesday for a $625 million credit facility to finance, in part, the company's acquisition of rival children's clothing marketer OshKosh B'Gosh, Inc. The deal, via...

Boyd Gaming Corp. Seeks Lower Rates.(securities)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Boyd Gaming Corp. hit the market last Thursday with an amendment to its existing credit facility that would upsize and extend the maturity of the revolver and lower pricing on both tranches of the $1.6 billion facility. The existing deal,...

Delta Amends Loan Agreement.(Delta Air Lines Inc. with General Electric Capital Corp.)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Last Wednesday, Delta Air Lines, Inc. disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that it received an amendment from GE Capital Corp. for its loan covenants that allows the airline to maintain higher EBITDAR levels on its...

ITC^DeltaCom Gets Financing Agreement.(with Tennenbaum Capital Partners L.L.C. )(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Last week, ITC^DeltaCom, Inc. announced that it has received a commitment from Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC for $239 million in debt financing split between a four-year, $209 million senior secured term loan and a $30 million "subordinated...

APS Financial Taps Hamilton For New Loan Product Line.(Matthew Hamilton appointed)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Last week, APS Financial Corp. (APSF) announced that it would offer bank debt trading and trade claims. To lead the new venture, Matthew Hamilton has been appointed as director of syndicated loan trading. Most recently, Hamilton worked as a...

May Spec Grade Loan Default Rate At 1.9%.
June 6, 2005... The global speculative grade default rate dropped to 1.9% last month from 2% in April, reaching its lowest level since July 1997, Moody's Investors Service reported last week. However, the ratings agency forecasted that the rate would rise to...

Loans A Better Long-Term Bet Than Bonds?(leveraged bank loan)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... The recent instability in both the leveraged bank loan and high yield bond markets has left some managers who invest in both asset classes wondering which asset class to overweight, notes a May 27 Leverage World report. During the first...

DrKW Hires Madon As MD In Structured Credit Sales.(Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein appoints David Madon)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) recently announced the appointment of David Madon as managing director in the bank's structured credit sales and marketing team in New York. Madon previously worked at Commerzbank Securities in New York as...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
June 6, 2005... In reference to BLR's 5/30/05 article, "Moody's Reviews Methodology For Spec-Grade Liquidity Ratings," the downgrade of Tower Automotive, Inc. to SGL-4 took place in December 2003, rather than in May 2004, as cited in the article. (c) 2005...

Ratings Movers: Laidlaw Up On Sale Of Business/PTS Down.
June 6, 2005... The good times are rolling along for Laidlaw International, Inc., which saw its existing $300 million revolver upgraded to Ba2 from Ba3 by Moody's Investors Service last week. The upgrade, in part, reflects the company's recent sale of its...

Media And Communications Lending: Solid Prospects Ahead.
June 6, 2005... by Susan E. Hanna, managing director, capital markets at GE Commercial Finance Global Media & Communications Despite some rough patches for leveraged lending in the past couple of months - notably worries over the automotive sector -...

MNPI Issues Culminate As Lenders Invest Across Asset Classes.(material nonpublic information)
June 13, 2005... "Insider trading" may conjure up visions of Martha Stewart selling shares of ImClone Systems Inc. after being tipped by the company founder, but today it's not the stock market that's under the most intense scrutiny for potential abuse of...

Second Liens Are Still In The Game.
June 13, 2005... The leveraged loan market got a bit of a jolt last month after some hedge funds abandoned the asset class for the high yield bond market. In turn, the average spread on second lien paper in the secondary market widened, while some deals in the...

More Re-Issued MV CDOs May Emerge.
June 13, 2005... The market may begin to see increasingly more re-issued market value collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). That's because a significant amount of market value CDOs, which have performed relatively well, were launched in the late 1990s, so the...

Delphi Refi To Close As Co. Finds Incorrect Liquidity Statements.(Refinance)
June 13, 2005... Despite last week's disclosure that it had misstated its net liquidity, Delphi Corp. said in a June 9 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that it remains on track to close its $2.8 billion refinancing deal by June 15. As of press...

UBS Shops Facility For Boart Longyear Buyout.(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Last Thursday, UBS went to market with a $500 million credit facility in connection with Advent International's acquisition of Boart Longyear Company from Anglo American. The bank deal is comprised of a five-year, $75 million revolver; a...

Bear Stearns Launches BI-LO.
June 13, 2005... Last Friday, sole lead Bear Stearns hit the market with a $420 million credit facility in connection with the recent acquisition of supermarket chain BI-LO Holdings, LLC by Lone Star Funds. The facility is comprised of a $75 million, five-year...

Silgan Refi In Syndication.
June 13, 2005... Last week, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America launched syndication of a $1 billion credit facility for Silgan Holdings Inc. Proceeds from the facility, which is comprised of a six-year, $450 million revolver; a $325 million six-year term loan A;...

TravelCenters In Mart For Refi.(Refinance)(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Last week, JPMorgan and Lehman Brothers began shopping an $805 million credit facility for TravelCenters of America, Inc. The deal includes a $125 million, three-and-a-half-year revolver priced at Libor plus 225 bps and a $680 million,...

Bank Trio Launches Chiquita.(Goldman Sachs, Chiquita Brands International Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Chiquita Brands International is back in the market with a $600 million credit facility in connection with the company's $855 million acquisition of the Fresh Express unit of Performance Foods Group. The deal, which is led by Wachovia...

Top Management Changes At Babson.(Babson Capital Management LLC)(Appointments and Promotions)(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Following former Babson Capital Management LLC Chairman and CEO Stuart Reese's recent appointment to serve as president and CEO of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Babson named Roger Crandall and President Bill...

Latimer Tapped As UBS Head Of US Par Loan Sales.(Appointed Kevin Latimer )(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Kevin Latimer has been named head of US par loan sales at UBS, which is an expansion of his current role. Latimer, who joined UBS two years ago from Deutsche Bank, will report to Brendan Dillon, head of US loan sales. The move is in connection...

Toscano Nominated To LSTA Board.(Appointed Dan Toscano)(Loan Syndications and Trading Association)(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... Dan Toscano, managing director and head of senior debt capital markets at Deutsche Bank, has been nominated to sit on the Loan Syndications and Trading Association's (LSTA) board of directors. He is set to replace Nancy DelGenio, who held...

Fitch Rates NewStar "CAM2".(NewStar Financial, Inc)(CDO Asset Manager )(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... On June 6, Fitch Ratings assigned Boston-based NewStar Financial, Inc. a leveraged loan CDO asset manager (CAM) rating of "CAM2." This is the second-highest rating on a scale of one to five. The firm's composite score was 2.24; Fitch...

CIT Grows Business.(Brief Article)
June 13, 2005... CIT announced it is growing its financial services offerings to its base of mid-market clients by organizing around an industry model and forming an investment banking services group, the firm said in an announcement last week. This will allow...

Ratings Movers: AMO Up On Merger/Atrium Down On Guidance.
June 13, 2005... Coming off of its closed acquisition of VISX, Inc., Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. (AMO) saw its ratings on its bank debt upgraded to BB from BB- by Standard & Poor's. As a result of the merger, S&P said there is a high expectation for full...

Lenders Upset Over Parmalat Outcome, May Affect Italian Deals.
June 13, 2005... A trail of asset-related fire sales and criminal prosecutions is all that's left of several global companies felled by recent accounting scandals. Such is not the case with Italy's Parmalat Finanziaria SpA - much to the chagrin of some of its...

Demand For Leveraged And Investment Grade Loans Still Strong.
June 13, 2005... Second lien loans weren't the only loan product that softened a little bit last month as the market reacted to rising interest rates, a weak high yield bond market and the downgrades of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Company to junk...

Market Outlook Solid For Europe As Deal Pipeline Swells.
June 13, 2005... On the other side of the Atlantic, the deal pipeline is very strong, in large part due to the continued frenetic pace of leveraged buyout (LBO) activity. Upcoming deals include the 4.3 billion LBO of Amadeus Global Travel Distribution, S.A.,...

Hedge Funds' Stance Toward Loan Market Is Not Clear-Cut.
June 13, 2005... Hedge funds are increasingly moving out of the second lien market and entering high yield, where assets are now cheap (see related story, page one). This trend has many implications for both the high yield and bank loan markets. Banks, for...

Delphi Buys Time With New Debt Deal, Term Loan Trades To 103.
June 20, 2005... Struggling automotive parts supplier Delphi Corp. got a boost last week, as its newly minted $1 billion term loan B traded into the 103 context, and its bonds also rose a few points from the previous week. News of the $2.8 billion liquidity...

APSF Moves Into Distressed Loan Trading.(APS Financial Corp.)
June 20, 2005... After spending nearly a quarter of a century in the junk bond trading business, APS Financial Corp. (APSF) has decided to broaden its investment scope into the world of bank loans by starting up a new syndicated loan trading desk. The...

Could Euro Cos Start Passing On Bank Debt?
June 20, 2005... High yield bankers hoping to get a bigger piece of Europe's growing debt market could get a boost if the buyout financing for TIM Hellas Telecommunications gets sold in its present structure. That's because the 900 million deal, which will...

Goldman, CSFB Shop $800M Coffeyville Deal To Support Buyout.(Credit Suisse First Boston )(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Last Tuesday, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston hit the market with an $800 million credit facility for Coffeyville Resources, Inc. The deal is comprised of a $100 million, six-year revolver; a $150 million, six-year synthetic letter...

Bank Duo Launches DoubleClick.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Last Tuesday, Bear Stearns and Credit Suisse First Boston held a bank meeting in connection with the $1.1 billion leveraged buyout of DoubleClick, Inc. by San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC. The facility is comprised...

Meow Mix Wants To Drop Second Lien, Lower Rates.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Seeking to lower the interest rates it pays on its bank debt, Secaucus, N.J.-based The Meow Mix Company hit the market last Thursday with a $215 million refinancing deal comprised of a $25 million, five-year revolver and a $190 million,...

DB In Market With EnviroSolutions.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Last Tuesday, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers launched syndication of a $215 million credit facility for EnviroSolutions Holdings, Inc. The B-/B2-rated deal is comprised of a $40 million, six-year revolver and a $175 million, seven-year term...

JPM, BofA Shop Cumulus Refi.(JPMorgan )(Bank of America )(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Last Wednesday, JPMorgan and Bank of America began shopping a $700 million B+/Ba2-rated refinancing deal for Cumulus Media Inc. that is split between a $350 million, seven-year revolver and a $350 million, seven-year term loan. Price talk for...

Citi Sells Midwestern Buyout Loan.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Sole lead Citigroup has launched syndication of an $875 million credit facility in connection with the acquisition of Mid-Western Aircraft Systems, Inc. by Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp. Proceeds from the term loan will go, in part, to...

Miracle-Gro Plans To Refinance.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. intends to refinance its existing $1.1 billion credit facility into a $1 billion, five-year revolver (led by JPMorgan) by the end of July. Jim King, senior director of investor relations for Miracle-Gro, said...

LSTA: July 4 Should Be A Loan Market Holiday.(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... Last week, The Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA) recommended that Monday, July 4 be treated as a loan market holiday for purposes of calculating the start date for delayed compensation under the LSTA standard forms of trade...

GE CF Promotes Buchanan To Head Restructuring.(GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending)(Brief Article)
June 20, 2005... GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending (GE CF) announced last Thursday that Bruce Buchanan has been promoted to managing director in charge of the firm's national restructuring group. Most recently, Buchanan served as co-head of originations,...

Moody's Analysts Give Ford, GM Six Months Notice To Shape Up.
June 20, 2005... Analysts with Moody's Investors Service said they are giving Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corp. (GM) six months to prove themselves worthy of their current ratings. Speaking at Moody's' Auto Securitization Briefing earlier this month,...

Ratings Movers: Blount Up On Performance/NW Descends.
June 20, 2005... As a result of continuing improvement in its operating performance, Blount International Inc. saw Moody's Investors Service raise its debt ratings last week - including the ratings on its $100 million revolver, $315 million term loan B and $4.9...

ABL Mart Forced To Do Smaller Deals, Join With Other Markets.(asset-based lending)
June 20, 2005... The asset-based lending (ABL) market is not the same as it used to be. That's because, over the past year, it has had to adapt to a weakening amount of new issue deal flow, and of the new issues the market does see, ABL lenders have had to...

S&P Launches Ratings IQuery To Enable Advanced Searches.(Standard & Poor)
June 20, 2005... Last Wednesday, June 15, Standard & Poor's launched a new Web-based credit ratings product called Ratings IQuery, which provides a more sophisticated tool to analyze S&P's data and research. Ratings IQuery "takes the work away from you," while...

Could The Markets Absorb A Toys R' Us Jumbo Debt Deal?
June 20, 2005... Just as the high yield bond market has begun to digest billions of dollars in outstanding issues from fallen angel credit General Motors Corp. (GM), another massive amount of new debt could hit the high yield market, as well as the loan market,...

Once Bankrupt Laidlaw Drives Into I-Grade, Gets Cheaper Deal.
June 27, 2005... When Laidlaw International, Inc. finally emerged from bankruptcy two years ago, it was laden with $3.9 billion in debt and was paying some hefty rates on its new credit facility. After shedding its health-care businesses earlier this year - a...

Fallen Angels Adapt To New Environment.
June 27, 2005... For communications products supplier Anixter International Inc., February's credit downgrade from investment grade to speculative grade status came rather unexpectedly. According to Dennis Letham, Anixter's senior vice president of finance and...

Phoenix Is Ready For The Next Downturn.(Phoenix Management Services)(Company Profile)
June 27, 2005... E. Talbot ("Tal") Briddell, president, founder and managing partner of turnaround firm Phoenix Management Services, is not afraid to voice his doubts about the health of the US economy. While it might seem as though everything has been just...

Cablevision To Tap Mart For $2.8B In Loans, $4.25B In HY Bonds.
June 27, 2005... Merrill Lynch and Bank of America have been selected to arrange over $7 billion in debt financing in connection with a proposal by the Dolan Family Group to take Cablevision Systems Corp. private and to spin off subsidiary Rainbow Media...

Burger King Orders A Refi.
June 27, 2005... Last week, JPMorgan and Citigroup held a bank meeting to launch syndication of a $1.15 billion credit facility for Burger King Corp. The deal is comprised of a $150 million, six-year revolver; a $250 million, six-year term loan A; and a $750...

Bank Duo Launches Magellan Dividend Recap.(Magellan Midstream Holdings LP)(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... Last Wednesday, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers hit the market with a $275 million, seven-year term loan B for Magellan Midstream Holdings LP (MMH). Proceeds from the term loan will go, to repay about $100 million in outstanding bank...

RBS, Citi Shop USI.(United Subcontractors Inc.)(The Royal Bank of Scotland)(Citigroup Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... United Subcontractors, Inc. (USI) hit the market last Wednesday with a $315 million credit facility led by The Royal Bank of Scotland and Citigroup. The bank deal is split between a $40 million, six-year revolver and a $265 million, seven-year...

Copano Energy Picks BofA For Financing.(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... Last week, Copano Energy LLC announced that in connection with its planned acquisition of ScissorTail Energy, LLC, the company has received a commitment from Bank of America for a $520 million credit facility split between a $350 million...

Toys "R" Us Shareholders Approve LBO.(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... Last Thursday, shareholders approved a bid by two private equity firms, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Bain Capital Partners LLC, and Vornado Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust, to buy Toys "R" Us, Inc. for $26.75 per share. The...

Jansa To Return To DB's London Office.(Nick Jansa appointed at Deutsche Bank AG (Frankfurt, Germany))(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... After working in the US for about five years, managing director Nick Jansa is set to return to Deutsche Bank's London office in the fall as a senior banker on the loan syndications desk. Jansa is not the only Deutsche Bank employee to...

Lundholm-Micko Joins Fitch's EMEA Capital Markets.(Lena Lundholm-Micko)(Europe, Middle East and Africa)(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... Last week, Fitch Ratings announced that Lena Lundholm-Micko has been appointed as a director in its London-based EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) capital markets team. Lundholm-Micko will focus on corporate business development across the...

CIT Starts Health-Care Biz, Sweeps Up GE Staffers.(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... CIT Group Inc. announced last week that it has launched a new division, CIT Healthcare, which will provide financing to entities in the health-care sector. Flint Besecker, formerly a managing director and group head of GE Healthcare Financial...

Cherrick Joins Wachovia From SG Cowen.(Michelle Cherrick )(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... Michelle Cherrick has joined Wachovia Securities as a managing director in the consumer and retail investment banking group. She will be based in San Francisco and she will focus on the origination and execution of corporate finance business...

GE CF Names Hicks As Eastern US MD.(Randy Hicks )(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... Last week, GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending named Randy Hicks as a managing director for its eastern US region. Hicks has worked for GE since 1993, most recently as a managing director for commercial and industrial finance for the firm's...

Strait Joins BNP Paribas From JPM.(Andy Strait appointed)(Brief Article)
June 27, 2005... Earlier this month, BNP Paribas announced the appointment of Andy Strait as managing director and transportations banker in its Midwest corporate coverage team. Strait will report to Rick Broeren, head of the corporate coverage transportation...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 27, 2005... In Bank Loan Report's 6/20/05 article, "APSF Moves Into Distressed Loan Trading," it was incorrectly stated that APS Financial Corp.'s trade claims business includes leveraged loans. The business does not include leveraged loans. It involves...

Ratings Movers: FMC Up To I-Grade/Walter Down On Merger.(Walter Industries Inc.)
June 27, 2005... FMC Corp. became part of the investment grade world last week, as Moody's Investors Service boosted the ratings for the Philadelphia-based chemical company's recently refinanced credit facility, among other ratings, to Baa3 from Ba1. ...

Fallen Angels Perform Better Than Spec Grade Counterparts.
June 27, 2005... The term "fallen angel" may have a negative connotation, but there is a positive side to being downgraded from investment status to speculative grade status. That's because, partly due to their prior investment grade credit quality, fallen...

How A Lender Can Boost Collection Of Ch. 11 Postpetition Charges.
June 27, 2005... by Keith Aurzada, a partner in the financial restructuring practice group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Business bankruptcies have dropped to their lowest levels in nearly 25 years, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, and as...

Heavy Hedge Fund Activity Causes Distressed Liquidity To Thrive.
June 27, 2005... At the midway point in 2005, the distressed debt market seems remarkably undistressed, but some players, while acknowledging the market's current good fortune, believe that distressed players need to pay closer attention to potential pitfalls...