Bank Loan Report articles from May 2005

Bank Loan Report archives from May 2005

Merriman Taps Roden To Head New Leveraged Finance Biz.
May 2, 2005... Joining the growing list of boutique investment firms and banks that have opened their doors to lending opportunities in the sub-investment grade middle market, San Francisco-based investment bank and broker dealer Merriman Curhan Ford & Co....

Fewer Cos Find 404 Control Problems.
May 2, 2005... Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has taken a very public beating in recent weeks. The 2002 legislation, which requires companies and their auditors to attest to the effectiveness of companies' internal financial controls, was roundly...

Calpine's Loans, Bonds Tumble In Secondary.
May 2, 2005... Apparently, no news is bad news for Calpine Corp. Despite the company's recent efforts to quash rumors that it was going to file for bankruptcy, its bond and bank debt continued to tumble in secondary trading last week. A number of its...

JPM, Citigroup, CSFB Launch $675M Credit For Apollo's Hexion.(Credit Suisse First Boston)(JPMorgan)(Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... JPMorgan, Citigroup and Credit Suisse First Boston hit the market last Thursday with a $675 million credit facility for Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc., a new company to be formed by the merger of Borden Chemical, Inc., Resolution Performance...

Market Has Appetite For Werner Second Lien.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... The market appears to have an appetite for Werner Holding Co.'s $100 million second lien loan, which is priced at Libor plus 1,000 basis points (bps). By mid-week, the deal, which launched last Monday, was said to have already been fully...

HNS Seeks Loan Instead Of Bonds.
May 2, 2005... Hughes Network Systems Inc. (HNS) has joined the growing number of issuers that have abandoned the bond market and opted for financing in the leveraged loan market instead (BLR, 4/25/05). Instead of doing a $325 million senior note offering as...

JPM To Provide Meridian With DIP Loan.(debtor-in-possession)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Meridian Automotive Systems has secured commitments for up to $375 million in debtor-in-possession financing from JPMorgan. The Dearborn, Mich.-based automotive parts company filed Chapter 11 last week. "Meridian has very strong operations,...

Bear Stearns To Lead DoubleClick LBO Deal.(leveraged buyout)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Bear Stearns has agreed to provide a credit facility for up to $405 million to back Hellman & Freeman LLC's , a San Francisco-based private equity firm, leveraged buyout of DoubleClick, Inc. The proposed bank deal includes a $290 million first...

MetroPCS Seeks $950M Facility.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Last week, MetroPCS Wireless, Inc. announced that it is seeking a $950 million credit facility via lead arranger and bookrunner Bear Stearns. The facility is to finance, in part, a cash tender offer of MetroPCS's $150 million 10.75% senior...

Ganz New General Counsel At LSTA.(Loan Syndications and Trading Association)(appointment)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... The Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA) is hiring Elliot Ganz to join the organization as general counsel. He will be tasked with managing the LSTA's legal and regulatory affairs, as well as its market practice and standardization...

New LSTA Secondary Mart Docs In Effect.(Loan Syndications and Trading Association)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... The new Loan Syndications and Trading Association secondary market trading documents went into effect May 1. Among the changes under the updated documents, interest claims are now the exception rather than the rule in delayed compensation for...

Stewart Heads To Merrill.(appointment)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Malcolm Stewart is set to join Merrill Lynch's London office to run leveraged finance for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, according to a Merrill spokesperson. Stewart, who most recently worked for Citigroup, will report to Andrew McCullough,...

Kourakos Retiring From Morgan Stanley.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Bill Kourakos, a managing director in Morgan Stanley's global capital markets division who headed up the firm's leveraged finance division in the late 1990s through 2001, has announced he is retiring after 19 years from the firm, said a Morgan...

NewStar Increases Lending Capacity.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Last week, middle market lender Boston-based NewStar Financial, Inc. announced it completed a $50 million offering of long-term senior secured notes, thus increasing its lending capacity to $2 billion. "Since our formation last June, our...

Global Credit Quality Improves In Q1.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... The credit quality of Western European issuers improved during first quarter 2005, according to an April 26 report by Moody's Investors Service. During last quarter, 23 Western European bond issuers were upgraded, compared with 17 downgrades....

Ratings Movers: SGL Carbon Up/MedPointe Falls On Zomig Loss.
May 2, 2005... Last week, Moody's Investors Service boosted the ratings of SGL Carbon AG/SGL Carbon LLC's euro-and dollar-denominated bank debt, among other ratings. Moody's raised its ratings on the company's $116 million term loan and 227 million credit...

Spiegel To Complete $300M Loan.
May 2, 2005... GE Commercial Finance, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse First Boston have agreed to provide a $300 million term loan to help Spiegel Inc. exit bankruptcy. The loan was first disclosed in an April 22 filing with the US Bankruptcy Court. Spiegel CFO...

Auto Parts Suppliers Continue To Tap Loan Market For Senior Debt.
May 9, 2005... Faced with grim industry conditions and a lack of liquidity, a number of automotive parts suppliers have tapped the loan market for debt financing in recent months. And these deals are getting done, despite the negative industry forecast. ...

Hedge Funds Flee 2nd Liens, Look To HY.(High Yield)
May 9, 2005... Hedge funds are notorious for their rapid entries and exits into and out of asset classes. And even though syndicated loan professionals say they do not have a firm grasp as to the extent of hedge fund involvement in their market, many say that...

Leverage Inches Up On Health-Care Deals.
May 9, 2005... Private equity firms are ratcheting up leverage on health-care deals, as more seek to invest in the sector. For the entire health-care sector, the debt-to-earnings ratio has jumped to 4.5 times EBITDA for the first quarter 2005, given the 12...

Goldman, CSFB Set To Tap Market For Covanta Acquisition Credit.
May 9, 2005... Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston are tentatively slated to launch syndication this week of $690 million in first lien loans for Covanta Energy Corp., according to a source familiar with the transaction. The first lien facility is...

Penn Gaming Deal Launches.(Penn National Gaming Inc. acquires Argosy Gaming Co.)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Last Tuesday, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers launched syndication of a $2.725 billion credit facility in connection with Penn National Gaming Inc.'s acquisition of Argosy Gaming Co. In November, it was announced that Penn...

SemGroup Slated To Syndicate This Week.(acquires Koch Pavement Solutions)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... SemGroup, L.P. is set to hit the market this week with a $300 million add-on credit to finance, in part, its acquisition of Koch Pavement Solutions' asphalt operations and the US- and Mexico-based operations and assets. The Tulsa, Okla.-based...

JPMorgan Leads DaVita Facility.(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., DaVita Inc.'s acquisition of Gambro Healthcare Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Last week, JPMorgan began shopping a $3.15 billion credit facility in connection with DaVita Inc.'s acquisition of Gambro Healthcare (BLR, 3/14/05). The facility is comprised of a $250 million, six-year revolver; a $250 million, six-year term...

Bank Duo Shops Energy Transfer.(Citigroup Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Energy Transfer Co.)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Last week, Energy Transfer Partners L.P., a publicly traded partnership based in Dallas that owns and operates a diversified portfolio of energy assets, hit the market with a $700 million, seven-year term loan B. Price talk for the loan is said...

Spanish Broadcasting Seeks Loan.(Spanish Broadcasting System Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. has announced its plans to enter into a new $425 million credit facility via Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia Securities. The new facility, which is expected to close during the second quarter, will...

GE CF Adds To London Team.(GE Commercial Finance appoints Vivek Rattan, Simon White. Nigel Houghton and Maurice Johnson)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Last week, GE Commercial Finance (GECF) announced that Vivek Rattan and Simon White are joining the firm's European leveraged finance team. Rattan, who most recently worked for Commerzbank, will serve as a managing director focusing on the...

Bartol Joins Barclays.(Perry Bartol, Barclays Capital Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Last week, Barclays Capital announced that Perry Bartol has come on board as a managing director in the firm's investment banking division. Bartol, who is based in New York, focuses on the health-care industry and is responsible for originating...

Pershing Hires Messinger.(Craig Messinger)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... The Bank of New York's Pershing LLC business, which falls under the BNY Securities Group, announced last week that Craig Messinger has been appointed as managing director and a member of Pershing's executive committee. He will have senior...

ABN Amro Forecasts Strong Year For Turkish Issuance.(ABN AMRO Bank N.V.)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... ABN Amro said last week that it anticipates total Turkish syndicated loan issuance to grow by about 20% over 2004 levels to over $10 billion in 2005 as a result of benign economic conditions and a number of transactions to fund buyouts and...

Ratings Movers: Nextel Up On Better Leverage/Blockbuster Drops.
May 9, 2005... Nextel Partners Operating Corp. made it onto the upgrades list last week after Standard & Poor's boosted its ratings on the company's $100 million revolver by several notches to BBB- from B+; the company's recovery rating was also upgraded to...

European CLO Pipeline Heats Up, Spreads Continue To Tighten.(collateralized loan obligation)
May 9, 2005... Five Standard & Poor's-rated European collateralized debt obligations of the leveraged loan asset class priced and one closed during the first quarter 2005, according to a recent S&P report. Many transactions are ramping up and high levels of...

American Capital Crosses The Atlantic To Set Up Paris Affiliate.
May 9, 2005... Last week, European Capital Financial Services Ltd., an affiliate of buyout and mezzanine company American Capital Strategies Ltd., opened its doors in Paris to expand the US firm's one-stop buyout business to France. Eventually, the firm...

Are Some Euro Second Liens Underpriced Mezz In Disguise?
May 16, 2005... Over the past 18 months, European issuers have increasingly opted for second lien loans, with such issuance totaling some 2.3 billion during this timeframe, according to recent report by Fitch Ratings. But with second liens oftentimes bearing...

Collins & Aikman Faces Liquidity Crisis.
May 16, 2005... The week after General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Motor Company's ratings were slashed to junk status, the numbers told the story of the automotive supplier sector: There was one CEO resignation, two delayed Securities and Exchange Commission...

LBO Deals Continue To Attract Buyers.(leveraged buyouts)
May 16, 2005... Given the dismal reception of debt-laden, private-equity backed initial public offerings (IPOs) in recent weeks and the absence of any high yield dividend recapitalizations since April 1, logical observers might wonder whether private equity...

Delta Seeks To Amend Covenants In Light Of Bankruptcy Concerns.(Delta Airlines Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Delta Air Lines, Inc. disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week that it has asked its lenders, GE Commercial Finance (GE CF) and American Express Travel Services (Amex) to amend the company's covenants for about $1...

JPM Launches CTI, Meridian.(JPMorgan, CTI Foods Holding Co., Meridian Automotive Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Last week, sole lead JPMorgan hit the market with a $115 million, seven-year second lien loan for CTI Foods Holding Co., LLC. Pricing is said to be at Libor plus 600 basis points (bps). Proceeds from the deal will go toward refinancing existing...

Phoenix Color Hits Market.(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Phoenix Color Corp. is in the market with a $130 million credit facility, which consists of a $15 million, five-year revolver, an $80 million, six-year term loan and a $35 million, six-and-a-half-year second lien loan. CIBC World Markets is the...

Carter's Secures Financing For Acquisition.
May 16, 2005... Last week, Carter's, Inc., a marketer of children's clothes, announced that it had received a commitment from Banc of America Securities and Credit Suisse First Boston for a multiyear credit facility to, in part, finance its pending acquisition...

Oak Hill Starts London Office.(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Becoming yet another US firm to set up shop in Europe, Oak Hill Advisors, LP, a New York-based firm that manages collateralized loan obligations, hedge funds, credit opportunity and distressed funds and separate accounts, announced last week it...

New Amsterdam Capital Grows Team.(appointments)(New Amsterdam Capital Management LLP)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Last week, London-based New Amsterdam Capital Management LLP announced that Imran Jaffer and Mehdi Ksikes have come on board as investment analysts for the firm's high yield debt investment business. Jaffer and Ksikes, both formerly of Lehman...

Stoeckle Nominated For LSTA Board.(Loan Syndications and Trading Association)(appointed Greg Stoeckle as head of the bank loan )(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Following Anthony Clemente's departure as head of the bank loan and collateralized debt obligation groups at Invesco, the firm has nominated Greg Stoeckle, who now heads the bank loan team, to hold Invesco's seat on the Loan Syndications and...

KeyBank Opens NJ Office.(New Jersey)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Last week, KeyBank Commercial Banking, a unit of KeyCorp., announced it assembled a five-person team for its new office in Parsipanny, N.J. The new office is dedicated to companies with annual revenue ranging from $10 million to $500 million....

Chang Joins Calyon's Structuring Team.(appointed Chris Chang as a vice president)(Caylon Americas)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Last week, Caylon Americas, the corporate and investment banking arm of the Credit Agricole Group, announced that it has appointed Chris Chang as a vice president for the bank's structuring group within the loan syndications team. He will...

GM's, Ford's Credit Troubles Could Affect Mexican Auto Companies.
May 16, 2005... Mexico-based auto companies could be affected by the fallout of Standard & Poor's downgrade earlier this month of General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Motor Company to subinvestment grade status, S&P said in a report released last week, written...

Ratings Movers: TNP Up On Pending Acquisition/Calpine Lowered.
May 16, 2005... Issuers in the energy sector dominated the ratings movers chart for last week, as two energy companies were upgraded, while Calpine Corp. and a number of their subsidiaries had its ratings dropped further into speculative grade space. ...

Market Woes Cause Loan Market Jitters, Secondary Prices Fall.
May 23, 2005... A couple of months ago, when the high yield market began to turn, leveraged loans seemed to be inoculated from the woes plaguing junk bonds. But many loan market constituents attitudes toward the asset class arent as bullish anymore, as...

Wall Street Plays Odds In Gaming Sector.
May 23, 2005... Wall Street is going out of its way to give gaming companies, even lower-rated ones, any type of financing they request, but the only item on the gaming industrys want list right now are cheap syndicated loans. Bankers are craving a sector...

Floating-Rate Notes Gain Wider Acceptance.
May 23, 2005... Floating-rate notes are well established in the investment grade world, and in a low rate environment such as todays, they can account for more than half of all new corporate issuance. Now, despite the woes of the high yield universe (US...

CDOs A Primary Target For Loan Market Issuers, Panelists Say.(Collateralized debt obligations)(Panel Discussion)
May 23, 2005... Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) have been a major provider of liquidity in the leveraged loan market over recent years, and they have been a major attraction for issuers looking to complete debt financings as well, according to panelists...

Delphi Hits Market Via JPM, Citigroup.
May 23, 2005... Joining the list of automotive parts suppliers that have tapped the leveraged loan market for debt financings, Troy, Mich.-based automotive supplier Delphi Corp. hit the market last week, via leads JPMorgan and Citigroup, with a $2.75 billion...

C&A Files Chapter 11, Seeks DIP Loan.(Collins and Aikman Corp., debtor-in-possession )(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Last week, troubled automotive parts supplier Collins & Aikman Corp. (C&A) filed for bankruptcy a much-anticipated move after the company disclosed during the previous week that liquidity was very tight and it was at risk of violating its...

BofA, Deutsche Bank Launch Scotsman.(Bank of America, Scotsman Holdings Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Scotsman Holdings, Inc. is in the market with a $650 million, five-year credit facility, which is comprised of a $500 million asset-based revolver and a $150 million term loan B. Bank of America and Deutsche Bank are the co-lead arrangers and...

JPM Shops Financing For 24 Hour Buyout.
May 23, 2005... Last week, sole lead JPMorgan launched syndication of a $700 million credit facility to finance, in part, Forstmann Little & Co.s $1.6 billion acquisition of San Ramon, Calif.-based 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, Inc. The deal is comprised of a...

Moodys To Discontinue Issuer Rating.(Moodys Investors Service )(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... On May 13, Moodys Investors Service announced that it no longer plans to assign issuer ratings, which have been assigned to speculative grade issuers since 1999, and that it plans to withdraw existing issuer ratings starting in mid-to-late...

Lewis To Head Deutsche Banks Loan Exposure Group.(Stuart Lewis, Loan Exposure Management Group )(Brief Article)
May 23, 2005... Last week, Deutsche Bank announced that Stuart Lewis, currently head of the banks Loan Exposure Management Group (LEMG) in Europe, has been tapped to be global head of the LEMG, effective July 1. Lewis will succeed Betsy Gile, who is retiring,...

Meridian's Loans Drop In Secondary Trading As Company Pulls DIP.(debtor-in-possession, Meridian Automotive Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2005... Last week, prices on bankrupt Meridian Automotive Systems, Inc.'s existing bank debt plummeted in secondary trading on the back of market buzz that the troubled automotive parts supplier had cancelled its $375 million debtor-in-possession (DIP)...

Recovery Prospects Vary For Euro Debt.
May 30, 2005... Not all European senior secured debt deals are created equal, and they may not necessarily deliver a full recovery on a creditor's investment, according to a recent report by Standard & Poor's. That's because, due in part to differences in...

The CDO Skinny On QSPEs, VIEs And VoIEs.(Collateralized debt obligations, qualifying special-purpose entity, variable interest entity and voting interest entity)
May 30, 2005... Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from static pool vehicles with little changes in collateral composition to very actively managed vehicles. When creating these structures using generally...

GMAC Hits Market For Jumbo Revolver As Fitch Downgrades Co.
May 30, 2005... General Motors Acceptance Corp. (GMAC) is in the market via JPMorgan and Bank of America for a $3 billion, 364-day revolver to replace its existing $4.55 billion, 364-day revolver that matures next month, for which price talk is 12.5 basis...

GXS In Market With Refi Deal.(to acquire G International Inc., refinancing)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2005... Last Tuesday, Citigroup launched syndication of a $450 million credit facility for GXS Corp., for which proceeds will be used, in part, to finance the announced acquisition of G International, Inc., to repay G International's outstanding debt...

Bank Duo Shops HealthSouth.(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. and Citigroup Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2005... Last week, HealthSouth Corp. hit the market with a $150 million, five-year unsecured credit facility. Proceeds from the facility will be used, in part, to pay down about $245 million of the company's 6.875% notes due June 15, 2005, thus...

Citi, Scotia Capital Launch Allegheny.(Citigroup Inc. for Allegheny Energy Inc. refinancing)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2005... Last week, Citigroup and Scotia Capital launched syndication of a $700 million refinancing deal for Greensburg, Pa.-based utility company Allegheny Energy, Inc. The facility consists of a $400 revolver and $300 million term loan. Initial...

Visteon's Deadline For Q1 Filing Extended.(Visteon Corp.)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2005... On May 20, Visteon Corp. announced that its lenders agreed to give the troubled automotive parts supplier until July 29 to file its first quarter 2005 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said the filing has been...

Maverick To Acquire Three Cos.(Maverick Tube Corp., Tubos del Caribe S.A., Advance Corp. and Consorcio Metalurgico Nacional S.A.)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2005... In connection with Maverick Tube Corp.'s $186 million acquisition of Tubos del Caribe S.A., Advance Corp. and the equity interests of Consorcio Metalurgico Nacional S.A., the company has received a commitment from JPMorgan for a $325 million...

Armstrong To Head Black Diamond.(Black Diamond Commercial Finance L.L.C. appoints Stuart A. Armstrong)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2005... Last week, Black Diamond Commercial Finance, LLC announced that Stuart A. Armstrong was appointed president and CEO of the privately held, independent commercial finance company. Armstrong comes to Black Diamond after 13 years with GE...

LSTA Implements Revised Primary Practices.(Loan Syndications and Trading Association's)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2005... On May 23, The Loan Syndications and Trading Association's (LSTA) final versions of its revised primary market and agent transfer practices went into effect. The revised documents address a number of market practices, including suggesting that...

Four Join GE CF's Media & Comm. Team.(GE Commercial Finance)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2005... Last week, GE Commericial Finance (GE CF) announced that Mark Huang, Eitan Milstein, Kevin Khanna and Robert Malone have joined its global media and communications origination team. Huang was named as senior vice president, technology lending;...

2005's A Key Year In Predicting If Benign Default Rates Continue.
May 30, 2005... Stronger economic conditions, robust corporate profits, a focus on balance sheet management as well as continued low interest rates are the factors that helped credit conditions improve significantly in 2004 and allowed corporate America to...

Moody's Reviews Spec Grade Liquidity Rating Methodology.
May 30, 2005... Two-and-a-half-years after Moody's Investors Service began issuing its speculative grade liquidity (SGL) ratings to subinvestment grade corporate issuers, the ratings agency is issuing a report reviewing its methodology and explaining how these...

Ratings Movers: PKI Up To I-Grade/AMI Drops On Weak Results.
May 30, 2005... PerkinElmer Inc.'s (PKI) bank debt moved into investment grade territory last week when Moody's Investors Service boosted its ratings on the Wellesley, Mass.-based high technology company. Moody's raised its ratings on PKI's senior secured...

Hedgies Take Advantage Of Distressed CDO Buying Opportunities.(collateralized debt obligations)
May 30, 2005... The recent hedge fund-driven chaos in the synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) market has created a buying opportunity for other hedge funds focused on distressed assets. "The tranche market has firmed up; buyers have come back...