Bank Loan Report articles from March 2009

Bank Loan Report archives from March 2009

Stimulate This! New Law Boosts Exchanges.(News)(American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)
March 2, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan Even its most ardent supporters admit that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or "the stimulus bill," passed and signed into law in mid February is not a silver bullet that will save the economy from the...

My Biggest Gripe About America, In Black And White.(Editor's Note)
March 2, 2009... Byline: Carol J. Clouse Here you have my biggest gripe about this fine country of ours: Far too many Americans cannot see the gray. Religion, politics, sexuality-it's always black and white, us and them. And this ridiculously narrow-minded...

Freescale Bondholders Trade Up Into Term Loan.(News)(Freescale Semiconductor)
March 2, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan Freescale Semiconductor's term loan investors may have said "no thanks" to the company's attempts to sell them a new $1 billion term loan, but the company's existing bondholders seem to view exchanging their notes...

UBS Vet Ryan Jumps Ship For Moelis.(Loan Market Buzz)
March 2, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff Christopher Ryan, the former head of credit fixed income at UBS, is joining Moelis & Co., according to Bloomberg. At his new digs, Ryan will monitor risk for Moelis' clients, which include companies, financial...

Creditors, Companies And Banks Spar Over DIPs.(News)
March 2, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals A spate of disputes between companies and their creditors highlights just how anxious debt holders are. At the heart of these disputes is how bankrupt companies plan to use the debtor-in-possession loans they...

March May See Bankruptcy Madness.(News)
March 2, 2009... Byline: Aleksandrs Rozens The nation's bankruptcy judges may be busier with new cases in March, with a pickup in activity likely coming just as many companies file annual reports that reveal details about their fiscal health. For...

RBS Exits Leveraged Lending.(News)
March 2, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals The Royal Bank of Scotland,which is now majority-owned by U.K. taxpayers, plans to "drastically scale back activity in structured real estate, leveraged and project finance, and exit lending in these areas...

Term Sheets.(Term Sheets)
March 2, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff Aberdeen Asia Pacific Income LOCATION: Newark, NJ PACKAGE AMOUNT: $600 mil. AMOUNT: $600 mil. ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT: Scotiabank - Bank of Nova Scotia BOOKRUNNER: Scotiabank - The Bank of Nova...

CLOs Take A Hard Look At Amendments.(News)
March 9, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals A growing number of companies are looking to amend their covenants to give them the flexibility to avoid a default. And where there's an amendment, there's a group of lenders who have to sign off on it. For CLO...

Cerberus Bit Off More Than It Could Chew In Chrysler.(News)
March 9, 2009... Byline: Danielle Fugazy It wasn't even a year ago that Cerberus Capital Management was being hailed as one of the smartest private equity firms in the business. Reports put the firm's annual fund returns at an average of 22%, and even...

Issuers Queue Up, But Will They Get In The Club?(Editor's Note)
March 9, 2009... Byline: Carol J. Clouse As I write this the afternoon of Thursday, March 5, the high yield primary market has a queue of four companies that have announced their intention to issue bonds. Two others priced offerings earlier in the week-one...

Pain And Gain For Health Care Companies.(Health Care)
March 9, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan It is a brave new world for health care regulation and government benefits for Americans, and speculative-grade health care companies face the prospect of profiting from government largesse and the possible thawing...

Moody's: Nearly All CLO Tranches Face Downgrades.(Loan Market Buzz)
March 9, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff In one fell swoop on March 4, Moody's Investors Service put nearly all rated tranches of U.S., European, Middle Eastern and African cash-flow CLOs on review for a possible downgrade, excluding the most senior...

Market: Nationalization Is Poison For Lev Finance.(Nationalization)
March 9, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals As the saying goes, oil and water don't mix. The same could be said for leveraged finance and the government. Nationalization is increasingly becoming a reality for some banks. And for those firms that are in...

Wendy's Offers Lenders A Debt Combo.(News)
March 9, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan Wendy's is looking to amend its credit agreement and is hoping its lenders agree that it deserves a break today, er, so to speak. Parent company Wendy's/Arby's Group wants to consolidate all of the revolver and term...

S&P Digs Deeper Into CLOs.(News)
March 16, 2009... Byline: Karen Sibayan Standard & Poor'splans to supplementits process for gathering information about the systems, personnel, and other resources available to managers of S&P-rated CLO deals, the rating agency said last week. ...

The Recession's Green(back) Lining.(Editor's Note)
March 16, 2009... Byline: Carol J. Clouse The overuse of a word tends to dilute its meaning, but what if this recession really causes us to change? Like, really. The signs point to a fundamental transformation in our way of life: We are buying less, wasting...

BNP Folds HY Group Into DCM, Dumps Distressed.(Loan Market Buzz)
March 16, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff BNP Paribas has folded its stand-alone high yield group into debt capital markets and completely eliminated its distressed finance group, a spokeswoman confirmed. The French bank is working through a 5% overall...

Lyondell Case Is Market's "Days Of Our Lives".(News)
March 16, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals If LyondellBasell were a TV show, it would fit right in with the daytime soaps-the storyline has plenty of drama, and it changes practically every week. The latest twist happened on March 10 when a committee...

Boutiques Seek Cover With Larger Midmarket Firms.(News)
March 16, 2009... Byline: Avram Davis If an investment banker were advising a client today, especially in the financial services sector, he or she would probably counsel against a sale, at least until business conditions perk up. So why are so many boutique...

Investors Flow Away From High Yield Funds.(News)
March 16, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan High yield funds suffered a rapid reversal of fortune in late February and early March, with two straight weeks of outflows, after enjoying inflows since November. Investors were spooked by steep stock market...

Separate Accounts Better Than Equal, Investors Say.(News)
March 16, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals With so much downward pressure on CLOs, high yield mutual funds and other investment choices, an increasing number of investors are turning to separate accounts as a way to access the value in the high yield bond...

BlueMountain Launches Distressed Loan Fund.(News)
March 23, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals At a time when a number of investment managers are selling loan portfolios to recoup whatever they can, BlueMountain Capital Management, a privately owned investment management firm, last week launched the...

Cantor Fitzgerald Bulks Up With Eye On Underwriting.(News)
March 23, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan Cantor Fitzgerald has expanded its debt capital markets group and is looking to begin underwriting deals. The New York-based firm has hired 25 new investment professionals since December. The most recent significant...

The Other Kind Of Bankruptcy.(Editors Note)
March 23, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan Outrage over the news that insurance giant and government bailout poster child AIG paid large bonuses to top executives has rippled through the news cycle. AIG paid bonuses of $1 million or more to 73 employees in...

Aleris Tops Creditors In Court.(Loan Market Buzz)
March 23, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff A bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Del. hasallowed Aleris International to borrow more than $1 billion to fund its reorganization, dismissing objections to the reorganization plan raised by Babson Capital Management...

Lyondell Could Usher In Age Of Roll-Ups.(News)
March 23, 2009... Byline: Kelly Holman A U.S. bankruptcy court's approval of Lyondell Chemical Co.'s $8 billion debtor-in-possession facility late last month produced more than just a record-size bankruptcy debt package. The DIP, which included the...

FASB Bows: Fair Value To Get Overhaul.(News)
March 23, 2009... Byline: Steven Sloan and Cheyenne Hopki Just days after Congress echoed the industry's criticisms, the Financial Accounting Standards Board moved March 16 to ease rules that have resulted in massive write-downs. The proposals, released...

NXP Exchange Might Face Legal Challenges.(News)
March 23, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan Dutch semiconductor maker NXP has extended until today the early tender date for its bond exchange offer. The extension comes as theoffer may face a legal challenge from bondholders. Bondholders have hired the...

Market Debates TALF's Inclusion of CLOs.(News)
March 23, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals For several months now market participants have speculated whether the government would intervene in the CLO market. Now, it seems that is becoming more likely, with bankers, market associations and investors...

Thornburg's Next Chapter May Be 11.(News)
March 23, 2009... Byline: Kate Berry By the company's own admission, this may be the last time Thornburg Mortgage wins a reprieve from its creditors. The beleaguered Santa Fe, N.M., jumbo lender and real estate investment trust said March 17 that it may...

Q1 In High Yield: Amend, Exchange, Repeat.(News)
March 30, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan The first quarter of 2009 has been marked by companies seeking to cope with debt burdens and tumbling through the familiar cycle of amended credit agreements and debt exchanges. Q1 also saw a small resurgence in new...

DIPs Grab The Spotlight In First Quarter.(News)(debtor-in-possession loans)
March 30, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals Debtor-in-possession loans, unfortunately, dominated the debt capital markets in the first quarter and will continue to do so throughout 2009. Not only are they becoming more prevalent, but DIPs are evolving to...

300 Million American Heads Simultaneously Explode.(Editor's Note)
March 30, 2009... Byline: Carol J. Clouse After months of infighting and finger pointing regarding the country's financial crisis, the heads of the citizens of the United States of America today collectively exploded. All 300 million are dead. The mass...

Lenders Sue Freescale Over Debt Exchange.(News)
March 30, 2009... Byline: Matthew Sheahan Freescale Semiconductor's senior secured lendershave filed suit against the company and some of its junior lenders over its debt exchange effort. The suit contends that junior lenders were unfairly elevated in the...

Amendments, And Lawsuits, And Buybacks, Oh My.(Loan Market Buzz)
March 30, 2009... Byline: Editorial Staff Appleton Papers and Dole Food have amended their term loans, while Autoliv has drawn down $300 million from its revolver. Appleton Papers, an Appleton, Wis.-based paper maker, amended its $225 term loan, relaxing...

Loan Market Springs Back With Several Deals.(News)
March 30, 2009... Byline: Richard Kellerhals Maybe we owe it to the first days of spring, or maybe it's sheer coincidence new deals are popping up at the same time, but either way the leveraged loan primary market seems to be springing back, at least for...