Bank Loan Report articles from June 2007

Bank Loan Report archives from June 2007

Mylan Seeks To Double Its Size; May Issue $7.7B Debt Package.
June 4, 2007... Mylan Laboratories has got acquisition fever, and if all goes according to plan, the Canonsburg, Pa.-based specialty pharmaceutical provider will become one of the largest generic pharmaceutical suppliers in the world. Before it can claim that...

Credit Markets Alert To Winds of Climate Change.
June 4, 2007... Before global warming completely melts the polar ice caps or sizzles our skin like bacon, it will affect our credit markets. A recent report by Standard & Poor's examines the impact of global warming on corporate credit. The report warns that...

Churchill Financial Broadens Playing Field.
June 4, 2007... Churchill Financial is looking to increase its assets. The New York-based middle-market finance company is not only bulking up its portfolio, but also adding breadth with the recent opening of a Chicago office and several new additions to its...

Loan Market Sluggish After Memorial Day Holiday.
June 4, 2007... It was slow in the loan market as the Memorial Day holiday left more bankers and investors outdoors than in the office. However, a number of deals did hit the market, including a few acquisition financings and a large repricing. Bear...

Ready Or Not, Europe, Here Synthetic CLOs Come.
June 4, 2007... They are still hypothetical, and many think they are way too cutting edge and innovative, but synthetic CLOs made up entirely of loan credit default swaps (CDS) are definitely coming to the European marketplace, sooner rather than later,...

European PIKs Could Interest CDOs If They Look More Like Mezz.
June 4, 2007... The issuance of holdco pay-in-kind (PIK) notes in Europe's leveraged finance market, for purposes other than shareholder payouts, has been increasing rapidly. While most market participants believe this growth is just another expression of...

Ratings Movers: MetroPCS Up On Expansion, Spanish Broadcasting Down On Ebitda.
June 4, 2007... Moody's Investors Service upgraded the senior secured credit facility ratings of Dallas-based wireless provider MetroPCS Wireless after the company's recent initial public offering, which pumped additional equity into the company's balance...

First Data Acquisition Set To Break Records.
June 11, 2007... First Data, a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based electronic payment processor, stands to make history in three big sectors of leveraged finance, as it will soon boast the largest technology buyout, covenant-lite loan and junk bond issuance. A...

Babson Hits The Middle Ground Running With Latest CLO.
June 11, 2007... Charlotte, N.C.-based investment management firm Babson Capital Management announced the close of Babson Mid-Market CLO Ltd. 2007-II, the firm's first CLO to focus on middle-market loans, and the eighth CLO closed by the U.S. bank loan team in...

Anders Maxwell: Ready For The Next Downturn.
June 11, 2007... Anders Maxwell has been there and done that. A veteran of the credit markets for more than 30 years, Maxwell has spent the last eight of those as a managing director for New York-based investment bank Peter J. Solomon Co. His focus there is on...

First Data, Not The Big, Bad Covenant-Lite Deal, Just, Er ... Big.
June 11, 2007... I have to admit that upon learning First Data's plans to issue the largest covenant-lite loan deal ever, not to mention the largest junk bond deal ever, equity bridge and all, my journalistic "bad news" radar began to blinkity, blink, blink....

Market Flexes Muscles After Holiday Week.
June 11, 2007... After a drop in activity was seen following the Memorial Day weekend, leveraged loans have come back from vacation in mass numbers. Upward of $15 billion dollars in new facilities launched last week, according to Fitch Ratings, including bulky...

Leveraged Finance And The Bank Lawyer.
June 11, 2007... By William D. Egler As recently as the mid-'90s, the practice of a bank lawyer involved in leveraged buyouts was comparatively straightforward. Bank loan documents for LBOs typically required the borrower to maintain certain levels of...

Ratings Movers: Moody's Upgrades W&T; S&P And Moody's Downgrade AMF.
June 11, 2007... Moody's Investors Service last week upgraded W&T Offshore's senior secured term loan B and revolver to Ba2 from B1. The upgrade is the result of the Houston-based oil and natural gas exploration company's $450 million senior unsecured note...

Controversial Lender To Borrow Big For LBO.
June 18, 2007... With the ouster of a boss by a group of new bosses and government investigations, the recent history of SLM Corp., better known as Sallie Mae, is the finance world's answer to "The Sopranos." Unlike the popular cable television show, though,...

Q&A: Deutsche's Daniel Toscano Sees Market Turn On Horizon.(dialogue with Daniel Toscano )(Interview)
June 18, 2007... For 14 plus years, Daniel Toscano has been with Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank, where he started in corporate finance and today heads the senior debt capital markets group in North America. He sat down with Bank Loan Report last week to talk about...

Demand Flexes Two Up , One Down.
June 18, 2007... Three deals launched earlier this month are now experiencing price flexes. While Las Vegas-based Citadel Broadcasting has priced down, a sign of strong interest, Allen Systems and Kronos have priced up, suggesting just the opposite. ...

Double Shot Of LBO Spices Up Loan Market.
June 18, 2007... A double shot from a lesser known private equity firm along with large deals in everything from rubber to data were among the new issues to land on the loan market last week. In all, $22 billion in new facilities launched, according to Fitch...

High Yield Experts Agree: Buyers Beware.
June 18, 2007... High yield investors, investment bankers and analysts see interesting, though perhaps tough, times ahead for high yield. At the 17th Annual High Yield Bond Conference of the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA) held last Wednesday...

2007 CDO Numbers Ride Coattails Of Strong 2006.
June 18, 2007... U.S. CDO issuance has continued its rapid growth thus far in 2007, despite contraction in the subprime market, which has traditionally been a popular source of collateral. But the investment vehicle may be running out of fuel as market players...

Ratings Movers: Maidenform Gets Boost From Revenue; OSI Down Under More Debt.
June 18, 2007... Standard & Poor's upgraded Bayonne, N.J.-based Maidenform Brands, designer and marketer of intimate apparel, to BB- from B+. S&P also raised the rating on the company's $150 million secured bank loan to BB+ from BB. The total debt for...

Penn Gaming Rolls The Dice In Private Takeover.
June 25, 2007... Shuffle up and deal. That's what Wyomissing, Penn.-based company Penn National Gaming plans to do following Friday's announcement of its acquisition by Fortress Investment Group and Centerbridge Partners. "[This transaction is] a testament...

Lady Luck Disses Lake Las Vegas Deal.
June 25, 2007... Located just 17 miles from the infamous Las Vegas strip, one would think the luck of other resorts would rub off on Lake Las Vegas. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case for the Henderson, Nev.-based development company. Nestled in the...

IKB, MS and Mizuho Unveil Innovative SIV Plans.
June 25, 2007... June is turning out to be an important month for a couple of structured investment vehicle (SIV) programs. Mizuho Securities announced plans to roll out a SIV-lite deal collateralized by leveraged loans, and Morgan Stanley arranged a program...

It's Not Just A River In Egypt.
June 25, 2007... An atheist friend of mine once had a long-term relationship with a Muslim. A nine-year relationship. Though doomed to end (she would never become a Muslim and he would never end up with someone who wasn't), these two people were somehow able to...

They're Once, Twice, Three Times Pricing.
June 25, 2007... Price flexes and new facilities crowded the loan market last week. Allen Systems, Zuffa and Algoma Steel all reappeared on the market with new price talk, while Vertrue, Value Creation and Source Interlink brought new offerings. BMO...

European CLOs Announce Close.
June 25, 2007... The European CLO market was hot last week with two U.S.-based fund managers announcing they had closed vehicles across the pond. GSC Group announced the completion of fundraising for its latest CDO, GSC European CDO V, a E300 million cash flow...

Auto Bonds See Light At The End Of Bankrupt Tunnel.
June 25, 2007... Intense competition, high gas prices, labor difficulties and bankruptcy have plagued the U.S. auto industry recently. However, the credit markets have been a small corner of optimism, as bankrupt companies reorganize and investors wait for the...

Ratings Movers: ThermaClime Up On Cash Flow, LifeCare Drops On Outlook.
June 25, 2007... Standard & Poor's upgraded Oklahoma City-based ThermaClime's $50 million senior secured term loan to BB- from B- last week. The upgrade reflects improvement in the company's operating results and credit measures over several of the past...