Bank Loan Report articles from May 2007

Bank Loan Report archives from May 2007

Shareholder Suit Not Likely To Tarnish Claire's $2.6B Debt.
May 7, 2007... Claire's Stores may sell costume jewelry, but it could have debt buyers seeing gold. The Pembroke Pines, Fla.-based jewelry retailer agreed on March 20 to be acquired by private equity firm Apollo Management in a $3.1 billion buyout. The buyout...

GateHouse's Tack-On Term Loan Ruffles Existing Lenders.(GateHouse Media financed by Wachovia Corp.)
May 7, 2007... One deal currently in the market that is not seeing much fanfare from investors is an add-on term loan for Fairport, N.Y.-based local print and online media publisher GateHouse Media. The company has seen pushback since Wachovia started...

LCDS Grows As U.S. Index Launches.
May 7, 2007... The Loan Only Credit Default Swaps (LCDS) Market has been an increasingly hot topic, especially as the market gears up for the launch of the LCDS Index - expected at the end of the month - marking the product's U.S. expansion. Tim Milton, a...

A Nudge Here, A Shove There, And So Goes The Pushback.
May 7, 2007... Despite the high yield loan and bond markets being skewed toward sellers, there have been several cases recently of feisty investors who are not lying down for any old deal but, indeed, giving issuers a firm push back. This week, Bank Loan...

Issuers Add Assets, Investors Prod Paper Deal.
May 7, 2007... The leveraged loan market calendar remained heavy last week, not a surprise to investors who expect the same level of deal flow to carry the market well into the summer. While deals continued to sprout up from leveraged buyouts and...

Covenant-Lite Loans Hit Europe, But Will They Stick?
May 7, 2007... The mid-March launch of a E975 million refinancing for VNU World Directories set the ball rolling for what European loan market players expect to be a growing trend in Europe: That of the covenant-lite loan. The feature has been part of the...

Speakers Debate Future Of ABS CDO Sector.
May 7, 2007... MIAMI BEACH - Shaken by diminished investor demand and in some cases significant losses, CDO issuers are slowly slipping quarters back into the so-called CDO machine that once fueled much of the subprime mortgage sector's most recent rise....

Ratings Movers: Hanger Up On Credit Metrics, Accellent Down On Concentration Risk.
May 7, 2007... Moody's Investors Service raised the debt ratings on Bethesda, Md.-based orthotic and prosthetic patient-care services provider Hanger Orthopedic Group last week. Hanger's $75 million revolver and $230 million term loan climbed to Ba3 from B1....

Harman May Drive Up Investor Confidence In Auto Debt.
May 14, 2007... In an industry burdened by pricing pressures from original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and a decline in North American automotive production volumes, profitable auto parts suppliers are few and far between. However, Washington, D.C.-based...

Loan Market Strips Down On Packaged Debt Financing.
May 14, 2007... In a unique twist to a "package deal," credit facilities launching last week for NRG Energy and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. included a structure known as "strip financing," which "staples" various securities or tranches together so that the...

More Debt Buyers Get Side Order Of Equity.
May 14, 2007... In what may be a new twist on the relationship between LBO firms and the debt investors that make their work possible, the investors are now more likely to get the opportunity to co-invest in the equity portion of an LBO deal. The trend is on...

Loan Market Launches Anticipated Buyouts, Sees Several New Twists.
May 14, 2007... Plain vanilla was the flavor of the week last week, as investors continued to welcome in a series of "run of the mill" deals. Quantity over quality seems to be where the market is at, one investor suggested, though several interesting...

Loans Could Throw Monkey Wrench Into Recovery.
May 14, 2007... The predominance of loans in the speculative-grade market may lead to their undoing, says a new study released last week by Fitch Ratings. The study comes as the global speculative-grade default rate is expected to more than double within the...

Ratings Movers: Choctaw Up On Debt Repayment, Rhodes Down On Housing Slump.
May 14, 2007... Standard & Poor's upgraded the debt on Mississippi-based casino operator Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise (CRDE) last week. The company's $143.75 million term loan B jumped one notch to BB+ from BB as a result of stronger-than-expected...

Catalina Shopping The Markets For $1.25B Debt Package.
May 21, 2007... Knowing that you purchased bread and butter at your local supermarket is Catalina Marketing's bread and butter. Catalina often generates the coupons that cash registers print out for customers at the supermarket. Now an LBO has Catalina...

Heated Lending May Bring Restaurant Debt To A Boil.
May 21, 2007... The leveraged finance markets have seen increased issuance from the restaurant sector. Recent debt packages include Melville, N.Y.-based pizza restaurant chain Sbarro's buyout by private equity firm MidOcean Partners, Minn.-based Buffets'...

Loan Market Readies For LCDX Launch.
May 21, 2007... Conversation surrounding the U.S. loan credit default swap index (LCDX) was buzzing last Wednesday as both investors and traders at The Loan Syndications and Trading Association's Loan Only Credit Default Swaps conference in New York, geared up...

The Structure Du Jour, Or Is Covenant Lite Here To Stay?
May 21, 2007... Despite how it vexes investors, the market's tilt toward the sell side keeps the "covenant lite" deals coming, increasing the concern of those who worry about such things and providing fodder for financial publications, conferences and client...

Loan Market Finances Buyout Boom, Heavy M&A Debt.
May 21, 2007... The loan market was heavy with buyout packages last week, as companies came not only to finance private equity investments but also to finance their own expansion-related acquisitions. JPMorgan and Lehman Brothers hit the market with a $780...

PE Faces Yet More Scrutiny, Chrysler Deal Wins Unions.
May 21, 2007... Taking a cue from their European counterparts, U.S. lawmakers and unions have lined up to take swipes at the private equity industry, charging the buyout space with perpetuating and further intensifying the imbalance between rich and poor. ...

Chrysler Deal To Rock Debt Markets.
May 21, 2007... While Cerberus Capital Management's carveout of Chrysler for $7.4 billion is on the low end of the LBO price spectrum, the buyout firm may need to raise as much as $70 billion in debt to handle Chrysler's pension and health care obligations....

Ratings Movers: Bare Escentuals Up On Profits, Abengoa Powers Down On Plant Delay.
May 21, 2007... Moody's Investors Service raised the ratings on San Francisco-based cosmetic and skin care company Bare Escentuals last week. The company's $25 million revolver and $325 million term loan were upgraded one notch to B1 from B2 in light of the...

LBO To Throw Alltel Debt To Junk Hounds.
May 28, 2007... Little Rock, Ark.-based regional wireless operator Alltel Corp. has been connecting the public since its inception under the name Allied Telephone in 1943. But with its agreement to be bought out by TPG Capital Partners and GS Capital Partners,...

Banks' Equity Bridges May Be More Like Tightropes.
May 28, 2007... In the 1957 David Lean film The Bridge on the River Kwai, allied prisoners of war worked to build a railroad bridge in Japanese-occupied Burma, only to realize that their short-term efforts to be productive have harmed their long-term effort to...

LCDX Launch Brings New Liquidity To Loan Sector.(Liquid Credit Derivative Index)
May 28, 2007... Investors poured into the LCDX index during its first days of trading last week, as hedge funds jumped at the opportunity to short the leveraged loan market and dealers looked to hedge exposure. Trading volume in the LCDX index reached $11.1...

Editor's Note : By Coddling Shareholders Companies Drive Down Credit Quality.
May 28, 2007... The academic rankings of American students - especially in math and science - have been declining for a couple of decades now. So too, have the credit ratings of American companies. The backslide of credit quality is nothing new, but the...

Loan Market Issuance Continues To Follow M&A Spending Spree.
May 28, 2007... The M&A steamroller continued to pave its way through the debt markets last week as acquisition-related financings once again accounted for the majority of new issuances in the loan market. Lead arrangers Bear Stearns and RBC Capital...

LSTA Works Toward Settlement Accuracy, Sees Trade Transparency.(Loan Syndications and Trading Association)
May 28, 2007... Since its inception 12 years ago, the Loan Syndications and Trading Association has worked toward faster trade settlement times and increased loan market transparency. With the release of its latest quarterly Trade Data and Settlement study,...

Ratings Movers: LifePoint Up On Junior Debt, Leiner Health Suffers On Production Cuts.
May 28, 2007... Moody's Investors Service raised the ratings on Brentwood, Tenn.-based non-urban acute care hospital operator LifePoint Hospitals. The company's $350 million revolver and $1.45 billion term loan were upgraded to Ba2 from Ba3. The ratings...