High Yield Report articles from April 2008

High Yield Report archives from April 2008

Cautious Banks Hunt For New Investors.
April 7, 2008... While all may be quiet on the M&A front, investment banks are working both to secure greater protections for themselves through covenants and new provisions and to lure new investors to leveraged finance. The league tables for Q1...

CLO Issuance Takes Baby Steps In Q1.
April 7, 2008... Camulos Capital closed Camulos Loan Vehicle 1 last Wednesday, kicking off the second quarter with positive news in the way of new issuance. The $731 million cash flow CLO, which is the first CLO for the manager, offered triple-A to double-B...

RBS, Deutsche To Market $725 M Term Loan B.
April 7, 2008... The Royal Bank of Scotland and Deutsche Bank plan to market a $1.2 billion credit facility, which includes a $725 million term loan B, for Coinmach in the coming weeks, according to sources. Price talk is at Libor plus 300 bps, with an OID yet...

If Clear Channel Were His Turf, What Would Tony Say?
April 7, 2008... The war of words being fought by the private equity sponsors and six banks over the financing of the Clear ChannelCommunications buyout got me to thinking about The Sopranos. You know, disputes over money owed and contracts being honored (or...

Middle Market Dominates Europe in Q1.
April 7, 2008... It used to be that investors could expect a substantial number of new deals in the first quarter of the year-transactions that banks, closing their books for the year in Q4, would purposely choose to hold over for the January to March period....

No Easy Remedies for Leveraged Loan Market.
April 7, 2008... Waiting to see the doctor is never fun. Old magazines and coughing strangers are bad enough, but the anticipation about the diagnosis is the worst. During the first quarter of 2008, everyone in the leveraged finance markets was waiting for a...

Good News Can't Kill Recession Fears.
April 7, 2008... The high yield bond market saw positive movement at the beginning of last week, as some good economic news provided respite to weary investors, but recession fears quickly resurfaced. Credit market observers took some solace in the...

California Calls For Boycott Of S&P.
April 7, 2008... California will lead a boycott of Standard & Poor's if the agency does not enter into a dialogue about reforming the rating system for tax-exempt bonds, John Chiang, state controller said April 3. "We in California contemplate a boycott of...

You Can Bet On More Debt For Debt.
April 14, 2008... A recent debt exchange by Abitibi Consolidated illustrates what may become more commonplace this year: last-minute agreements with bondholders that allow companies to pay back debt with more debt. But whether noteholders go for these...

It's Like Rain On Your Wedding Day ... Or Not.
April 14, 2008... A certain temptation exists to label it "ironic" when a group of private equity firms, including Apollo Management, Blackstone Group and TPG, buy up $12 billion in discounted buyout debt (some of it their own). After all, LBO shops...

Firms Happy Being Small Fish In Big Pond.
April 14, 2008... As shareholders and the government put large investment banks under the grill of a scorching spotlight, smaller firms are finding opportunities in the shade. One of those is Dallas-based ORIX Leveraged Finance, and it has a counterpart on the...

Macrovision Launches, Delphi Plunges.
April 14, 2008... JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch last week began marketing a $500 million term loan B for Santa Clara, Calif.-based digital media licensing company Macrovision, just after a deal for Troy, Mich.-based auto parts supplier Delphi broke down. "The...

Citi Slashes Euro Lev Fianance Team In Half.
April 14, 2008... Citigroup has cut half of its European leveraged finance team in London, reducing the group to 14 from 27. As many as seven of those cut will be reassigned to other areas in the investment bank, a source close to the situation said. The jobs...

Mixed News Still Means Investor Fears.
April 14, 2008... While trading volumes were healthy and the primary market priced new issues, mixed economic news kept high yield investors going back to the safety of Treasurys throughout the week. Among the bad news hitting the market last week, Lehman...

Berry Plastics Prices Loan In Bond's Clothing.
April 21, 2008... In an effort to get deals done on the primary markets, underwriters have been trying to appeal to different classes of investors. Last Wednesday, Berry Plastics priced $680.6 million in floating-rate high yield bonds that were structured in a...

Confidence Grows As Banks Pass The Ball.
April 21, 2008... Unless it's cholesterol or blood pressure, people are usually disappointed when they see a line on a chart head south. Another exception in the world of leveraged finance is the loan pipeline. The forward calendar has declined to $107...

Deutsche's Byrne Sees Lev Finance Glass Half Full.
April 21, 2008... Last week, High Yield Report sister publication IDD spoke with Richard Byrne, the newly appointed CEO of Deutsche Bank Securities and the firm's co-head of global capital markets, about the state of the leveraged finance markets, initial public...

Kinetic Hits Market With Loans And Bonds.
April 21, 2008... Banc of America Securities last week launched a $600 million term loan B and $600 million in 3.25% convertible bonds due 2015 for San Antonio-based Kinetic Concepts, a manufacturer of beds used in hospitals across the country. Price talk on the...

Citi Shuffles Toward Distressed.
April 21, 2008... Citigroup is shuffling its credit trading group to take advantage of opportunities in distressed debt trading, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The bank has appointed Carl Meyer global head of distressed trading; he reports to Carey Lathrop,...

Primary Activity Climbs, Prices-Not So Much.
April 21, 2008... Spring looks to be thawing out the primary high yield bond market, with new issuance picking up this month while prices remain low, circumstances that are pleasing investors. The first half of April has seen a spurt of activity on the high...

Bad News, Mixed Week For HY.
April 21, 2008... While last week brought the now-routine litany of bad news, high yield investors may be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. "The bottom line is that high yield securities are picking up steam, and a lot of investors think that the...

Well-Heeled CDO Managers Stand Their Ground.
April 28, 2008... At the onset of the CDO troubles this past summer, market participants predicted that tough times would weed out the established players from the fly-by-night shops. As the CLO market begins to pick up, it appears the predictions might be...

You Can't Keep Lev Loans Down, Kind Of Like Hillary.
April 28, 2008... Furiously compelling (and long) as the campaign has been, I somehow have neglected to employ any sort of clever presidential simile or metaphor in any of my previous columns. I'd like to believe that, as an American, I'm due at least one. And...

Retail Headed For The Bankruptcy Bin.
April 28, 2008... The recent move by retailer Linens 'n Things to defer a quarterly interest payment of approximately $16.1 million may not only have started the company on a path to bankruptcy, but it likely also signals trouble for the retail industry in...

FireKeepers Casino Heats Up Primary With $340M.
April 28, 2008... FireKeepers Development Authority last week priced $340 million in 13.875% senior notes due 2015 with an OID of 96. Merrill Lynch was the underwriter. The Michigan casino company had initially intended to price $325 million, and price talk...

Cheap Eats No Bargain For Investors.
April 28, 2008... Investors in casual-dining restaurant chains may want to ask for the check. These businesses have the highest probability of breaching their debt covenants, higher than companies in the automotive and construction sectors, according to recent...

M&A From Russia, With Debt.
April 28, 2008... Anyone who thought that M&A activity in Europe had met its demise ought to take a look eastward. Russia is where the action is, and according to people who follow the country and the surrounding region, that's where it's going to stay for the...

HY Sees Positive News, For A Change.
April 28, 2008... High yield investors found relief last week, as some positive economic news and the prospect of a cleared overhang brought springtime cheer to a beleaguered market. The U.S. Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims had fallen...