Bank Loan Report articles from March 2006

Bank Loan Report archives from March 2006

Older Vintage CLOs Being Phased Out As Spreads Tighten.(collateralized loan obligations)
March 6, 2006... Asset managers new and old are scurrying to bring new collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) to the market to capitalize on the very healthy appetite for the structured product. Yet at the same time, a previous generation of CLOs is being...

Churchill Launches Niche Lower MM Biz.
March 6, 2006... While many major loan arrangers these days bank their business on large sponsor-related deals, Churchill Financial Holdings plans to bank its business on smaller ones. The newly formed firm plans to initially focus its business on providing...

Dana Corp.: A Long Road To Profitability.(bankruptcy)
March 6, 2006... The threat of bankruptcy may be felt more ominously than ever by Dana Corp. these days, especially following the auto supplier's two missed coupon payments last week. The missed payments follow a lengthening string of problems experienced...

John Maneely LBO Deal Includes Superior' ABL Revolver.(leveraged buyouts)
March 6, 2006... After a 128-year run as a family-owned business, the John Maneely Company (JMC) is set to be acquired by The Carlyle Group, the Washington-based private equity firm announced last week. And like many leveraged buyouts (LBOs), the JMC deal...

UBS, Credit Suisse To Launch Nuance Credit.(acquisitions)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... Joint lead arrangers UBS and Credit Suisse plan to hold a bank meeting on Tuesday in New York to launch syndication of a $430 million credit facility in connection with Nuance Communications' proposed acquisition of Dictaphone Corp. The...

Deals For Gentiva, Century Theater, Dunkin Free To Trade.(Gentiva Health Services)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... A couple more deals fared well in the secondary market upon breaking to trade last week, including the term loans for Gentiva Health Services and Century Theater, according to secondary market sources. The Lehman Brothers-led $370 million...

JPM Shops Pegasus Loans.
March 6, 2006... As of press time last Thursday, JPMorgan was expected to launch syndication of a $120 million bank deal on Friday, March 3, for Pegasus Solutions. Proceeds from the new bank facility will go to finance the $275 million buyout of the company by...

Bank Duo Sells Fresenius Facility.(securities)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... On February 24, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank launched syndication of a $2 billion term loan in connection with German-based dialysis treatment provider Fresenius Medical Care's acquisition of Renal Care Group. Initial price talk for the...

Captain D's Taps Market For $330M Facility.(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... At a meeting last Thursday, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse served up $330 million in bank loans to finance the acquisition of Del Taco by Sagittarius Brands, the parent company of Captain D's Seafood. The deal is comprised of a $60 million,...

TheMarkets.com Expands Research Offerings.(Brief Article)
March 6, 2006... TheMarkets.com announced that it has expanded its research offering to include fixed income content on its global research and estimates platform. The new content adds debt coverage to the firm's existing equity coverage. The new content will...

Broader Interest In Calpine DIP Illustrates Growing Market.(debtor-in-possession)
March 6, 2006... Power company Calpine Corp.'s multi-year struggle to avoid restructuring finally ended in December when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Like most bankrupt companies, the first thing it did was borrow more money. The company's $2...

Ratings Movers: Xerox Up Two Notches/Movie Gallery Struggles.
March 6, 2006... Xerox Corp. moved within one notch of investment grade status last week as Standard & Poor's boosted the company's $700 million revolver and $300 million term loan A to BB+ from BB-. The outlook is stable. "The upgrade reflects substantial...

Dura Seeks To Upsize Second Lien Debt As Dana Receives DIP.
March 13, 2006... Soon after Dana Corp. filed for Chapter 11 on March 3, another auto supplier, Dura Automotive Systems, decided to tap its bank lenders for more second lien debt. The company wants to issue up to $75 million of second lien paper in a separate...

Creditex Adapts To Growing CDS Mart.
March 13, 2006... Less than two years ago, Sunil Hirani, founder and CEO of Creditex, was talking about the need for Tradeable Credit Fixings in the derivatives market. Because the market had grown so dramatically, it was fundamentally necessary to have in place...

Market Rumbles Over Moody's Loan Plan.
March 13, 2006... After unveiling plans in January to change its methodology for rating speculative grade bank loans and bonds in the US, Moody's Investors Service unexpectedly extended its initial 60-day comment period by another 30 days to March 31. The move...

Bank Meetings Well Attended For Launches Of ASM, Nuance.(Advantage Sales & Marketing)
March 13, 2006... UBS helped reenergize what had recently been a slower US primary loan market by launching syndication of deals for Advantage Sales & Marketing (ASM) and Nuance Communications last week. UBS and Citigroup are joint lead arrangers and...

Financing Ahead For VNU Buyout?(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... If the buyout receives approval, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, JPMorgan, ABN Amro and ING will be leading the debt financing package to back Dutch company VNU NV's 7.5 billion ($8.9 billion) acquisition by a private equity consortium, according to...

Wachovia Shops dj Orthopedics.(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... Wachovia Securities hit the market with a $410 million deal for dj Orthopedics last week, according to an investor. The credit, which will partly back the company's purchase of Aircast for $292 million in cash from Tailwind Capital, includes a...

Royal Banks And Ares Launch National Renal.(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... Royal Bank of Canada, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Ares Capital Corp. launched syndication last Tuesday of a $258 million credit facility for National Renal Institutes, a subsidiary of Nashville, Tenn.-based DSI Holding Co., which is...

Trio Syndicates Facility For Aearo Corp.(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns launched syndication last Tuesday of a $570 million credit facility for safety equipment manufacturer Aearo Corp. The deal includes a $340 million, seven-year first lien term loan B, a $170...

Software Co. Term Loans Upsized.
March 13, 2006... Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and UBS decreased pricing and increased the size of Serena Software's term loan last week. A seven-year, $375 million term loan was upsized to $400 million, while pricing on the tranche was cut 25 bps to Libor...

Ball Corp. Financing Hits Market.
March 13, 2006... JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank launched syndication of the $500 million term loan D for Ball Corp. on March 3. The loan is priced at Libor plus 87.5 bps, according to a source. The loan will, in part, support the Broomfield, Colo.-based company's...

Agencies Report Loan Default Rates.(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... Moody's Investors Service reported an unchanged issuer-weighted loan default rate of 1.9% from January to February. J.L. French Automotive Castings' default on $465 million in loans when it filed for Chapter 11 protection was the only...

Markit Enhances Secondary Price Visibility.(Markit Loans)(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... Markit Loans announced last week that it has enhanced its global loan pricing service with a dealer price visibility option. This will allow investors to view the specific bids and offers from each individual trader. "This is the most...

Churchill Financial Adds Nathenson To Staff.(Churchill Financial Holdings)(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... Churchill Financial Holdings, a newly formed commercial finance company that primarily provides senior and mezzanine debt to smaller middle market companies backed by financial sponsors (BLR, 3/6/06), has appointed James Nathenson to join the...

Woo Leaves Leveraged Finance Position At UBS.(Brief Article)
March 13, 2006... Warren Woo, who was appointed joint global head of leveraged finance at UBS just three months ago, is leaving the firm for personal reasons, according to an internal memo. His departure comes on the heels of a number of other senior defections...

The Investment Snags Of Pass-Throughs: A Junior Capital View.
March 13, 2006... by Stephen A. Boyko and Arnold P. May, partners at Proskauer Rose Junior capital providers are encountering companies organized as "pass-throughs" (such as limited liability companies or partnerships) with increasing frequency. There is no...

Ratings Movers: Conseco Livens Up/AutoNation Down On Recap.
March 13, 2006... Moody's Investors Service upgraded Conseco's debt ratings last week based on the company's capital restructuring initiatives and its progress since emerging from bankruptcy in September 2003. The company's bank debt rating was upgraded two...

A Transition Year For The Middle Market Distressed Debt Arena.
March 13, 2006... by Michael Murphy, managing director at AlixPartners and head of the firm's new San Francisco office It is beginning to look like 2006 will be a year of transition for the distressed debt market and, in particular, with respect to the...

Cablevision Seeks Covenant Lite Loan To Finance $3B Dividend.
March 20, 2006... The ink was barely dry on CSC Holdings' newest bank deal before the subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp. returned to the loan market again, this time for as much as $3.5 billion in term loan debt to finance the long-anticipated $3 billion...

More Energy Bankruptcies On The Way?
March 20, 2006... Is the energy sector's spate of corporate bankruptcies at last reaching an end, or is another round just getting ready to begin? With Calpine Corp.'s bankruptcy filing in December 2005, some analysts believed it marked the end of the...

Little Upside In '06 For US Auto Makers.(Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co wants stake in General Motors Acceptance Corp)
March 20, 2006... Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s (KKR) announcement last week of a "nonbinding" bid of around $13 billion to purchase a majority stake in General Motors Acceptance Corp., (GMAC), General Motors Corp.'s (GM) financing arm, did...

JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank Sell Cendant Car Rental Biz Credit.(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... The primary market picked up speed last week as a number of new deals - a few very sizeable ones - launched for general syndication. One such deal was the $2.375 billion bank deal in connection with Cendant Corp.'s plan to separate itself into...

McClatchy Seeks Debt For Knight Ridder Buyout.(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Another jumbo bank deal was added to the forward calendar last week following The McClatchy Company's announcement that it would acquire rival newspaper chain Knight Ridder. The proposed deal, which was announced March 13, is valued at $6.5...

UBS Launches AGY, ComPsych.
March 20, 2006... UBS held two bank meetings in New York last Tuesday, one of which was to launch syndication of a $210 million bank deal to back Kohlberg & Company's proposed acquisition of AGY Holding Corp. The deal consists of a five-year, $30 million...

Burlington Coat Launches.
March 20, 2006... The debt financing for the leveraged buyout of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp. got underway last Thursday at a bank meeting in New York, according to a banker familiar with the deal. At the meeting, joint bookrunners Bank of America and...

Bank Duo Sells $900M Facility For AutoNation.(J.P. Morgan Private Bank)(Bank of America Corp.)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Last week, JPMorgan and Bank of America began pitching $900 million of unsecured bank loans for AutoNation. The credit facility is split between a $600 million, four-and a-half-year revolver and a $300 million, four-and-a-half-year term loan A....

Credit Suisse, Wachovia Pitch LBI.
March 20, 2006... Credit Suisse and Wachovia Securities began shopping a $260 million refinancing deal last week for LBI Media. The facility consists of a $150 million, six-year revolver and a $110 million, six-year term loan. Proceeds from the deal will go,...

Movie Gallery Lenders Grant Waiver.(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Movie Gallery announced last Thursday that its lenders agreed to loosen the financial covenants of the company's bank agreement for the next four quarters. Movie Gallery's March 16 statement did not provide details on the specific covenants...

Bally Delays 10-K, Seeks Amendment.(Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp.)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Last week, Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. joined the growing ranks of issuers who have looked to their lenders seeking waivers to their bank facilities. The Chicago-based fitness chain disclosed that it has entered into discussions with its...

New Amsterdam Prices First CLO.(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... London-based New Amsterdam Capital joined the growing list of first-time collateralized loan obligation (CLO) managers earlier this month as it priced its 400 million Mercator CLO I through bookrunner Bear Stearns. The deal is collateralized by...

GE's Mehta Heads Back To US.(Neeraj Mehta )(GE Commercial Finance )(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... GE Commercial Finance (GE CF) announced last week that Neeraj Mehta has been tapped to lead the finance company's par bank loan participations team. His responsibilities will include acquiring participations in par bank loans, GE CF said in a...

Young Leaves Octagon For Primus.(Don Young joins Primus Guaranty )(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... A week after naming Charles McLendon president of subsidiary Primus Asset Management, Primus Guaranty announced last Tuesday that it had hired Don Young as a senior portfolio manager for high yield products. In his new post, Young will be...

Cohen Wins Bankruptcy Lawyer Award.(Marc Cohen from Kaye Scholar)(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Kaye Scholar's Marc Cohen, who is chair of the business reorganization and creditors' rights group at the firm, was named "Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year" by the Century City Bar Association. Cohen has 30 years' experience in bankruptcy law and...

Bear Stearns Opens New Middle Market Office.(and appoints James Augustine, Jr. and J. Scott Thomas )(Brief article)
March 20, 2006... Bear Stearns announced last week that it has hired James Augustine, Jr. and J. Scott Thomas in support of its plans to expand its middle market business with a new Memphis, Tenn.-based office. The new office will provide financial...

Euro CDO Issuance In 06 Up By More Than 100% From Year Ago.(collateralized debt obligations)
March 20, 2006... European collateralized debt obligation (CDO) issuance volumes in 2006 are up by more than 100% compared with the levels posted this time last year. Ten European CDOs came to market in February, bringing 2006 volumes to 6.6 billion ($7.87...

Ratings Movers: Genesco Steps Up To BB/Ford Descends Again.
March 20, 2006... Genesco's ratings took a step in the right direction last week as Standard & Poor's upgraded the company's $75 million revolver and $100 million term loan to BB from BB- and raised its recovery rating to "1" from "2." The upgrade reflects the...

Pinnacle/Aztar Union May Lead To Large Debt Financings.(Pinnacle Entertainment Inc.)
March 20, 2006... When Pinnacle Entertainment announced its agreement to acquire Aztar Corp. on March 13, debt market players collectively rubbed their hands at the deluge of business in the speculative grade debt markets such a union would yield. The merger,...

Investors Taking A Harder Line Negotiating Covenant Waivers.
March 27, 2006... Without a doubt, the leveraged loan market is a borrower's market these days. Spreads are at record lows, covenant packages are weak and leverage multiples are sky high. So it should come as little surprise that a number of companies including...

PE May Cash Out Of Wireless Towers.(private equity)
March 27, 2006... Some four years ago, the wireless tower sector, like so many other technology-related industries, was left for dead after companies took on loads of high yield debt to fuel what turned out to be overly optimistic expansion plans. After...

Euro Loan Market Sees Sustained Growth.
March 27, 2006... A few years back, a loan deal like the 1.04 billion senior secured credit facility for European soft drinks company Orangina might have been a tough sell, given the waning popularity and declining market share of fizzy, sugary drinks. And yet...

GE Commercial Finance Loses Several Staffers To CIT Group.(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... A group of staffers - including a couple of very senior ones - have reportedly left GE Commercial Finance for CIT Group, according to market sources. Among those said to have left GE CF include Roger Burns, who had headed par loans at GE...

Bank Trio Launches Dana DIP Facility.(Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. and Bank of America Corp.)(debtor-in-possession loan)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Last week joint lead arrangers Citigroup, JPMorgan and Bank of America launched syndication of the debtor-in-possession loan for automotive supplier Dana Corp., which filed for bankruptcy March 3. According to a lender presentation that was...

DrKW Tapped To Lead Deal Backing Sale Of DreamWorks Library.(Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to arrange Soros Strategic Partners and Dune Entertainment II's acquisition of DreamWorks L.L.C.)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has snagged the lead arranger role for a $745 million bank deal in connection with Soros Strategic Partners' and Dune Entertainment II's planned acquisition of Paramount Pictures' DreamWorks' film library,...

DB, BofA Sell Dole Refi.(Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America Corp. finances Dole Food Company Inc.)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Last Thursday Deutsche Bank and Bank of America began testing the loan market's appetite for another covenant lite term loan with the launch of its $1.3 billion refinancing credit for Dole Food Company. The loan includes a $325 million,...

CBRL's Ratings Slide To Junk On Tender Offer.(CBRL Group)(Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's rating)
March 27, 2006... Following CBRL Group's recent announcement that it plans to tender up to $800 million of its common stock financed by a new bank facility, both Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's cut the company's existing ratings to junk status....

Banks Prep Bonds, Loans For Pinnacle, Aztar Merger.
March 27, 2006... Shortly after announcing its plans to acquire rival gaming company Aztar Corp. (HYR, 3/20/06), Pinnacle Entertainment disclosed it had hired Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns to provide a $3.4 billion debt financing package that includes both...

Morgan Stanley Hires Two From Citi For Leveraged Finance.(Whitner Marshall and Kevin Sisson appointed)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... As part of an effort to expand its leveraged finance business, Morgan Stanley announced on Tuesday that it has hired two Citigroup bankers, Whitner Marshall and Kevin Sisson, as managing directors in its leveraged and acquisition finance group....

Yanney To Join Barclays.(Christopher Yanney joined Barclays Capital Inc.)(Brief article)
March 27, 2006... Christopher Yanney is the latest one-time Goldman Sachs staffer set to join Barclays Capital's leveraged finance team. Yanney has been hired as a director and head of US high yield cash and credit default swaps trading, the bank announced in a...

Fitch: Companies Favor Capital Expenditure Over Deleveraging.
March 27, 2006... Growth, not cost control, seems to be the name of the game for companies these days. After several years characterized by significant corporate deleveraging, companies continue to leave the frugal times behind them to ramp up capital...

Rural/Metro Rises/TRM Down On Potential Covenant Violation.(finance)
March 27, 2006... Its top-line growth, lower leverage and improved margins have paid off, ratings-wise, for Rural/Metro Corp., which saw ratings on its bank debt upgraded by Moody's Investors Service last week. The company's $167 million credit facility was...

Why Canadian Companies Are Gaining Flexibility With Asset-Based Loans.(markets)
March 27, 2006... by Ira Kreft, executive vice president, and Junior Del Brocco, senior vice president, Bank of America Business Capital Since Canadian borrowers first started using it in the early 1990s, asset-based lending has experienced rapid growth....