High Yield Report articles from June 2007

High Yield Report archives from June 2007

PIPELINE: Mylan Seeks To Double Its Size; May Issue $7.7B Debt Package.
June 4, 2007... Mylan Laboratories has got acquisition fever, and if all goes according to plan, the Canonsburg, Pa.-based specialty pharmaceutical provider will become one of the largest generic pharmaceutical suppliers in the world. Before it can claim that...

SECONDARY MARKET WRAP: Market Stays Steady After Bad News.
June 4, 2007... High yield bonds did not move considerably last week, demonstrating that the market is strong enough to withstand signs of a downturn in overseas equities but cautious enough not to rise with the more bullish equity markets in the U.S. A...

Feature: Credit Markets Alert To Winds of Climate Change.
June 4, 2007... Before global warming completely melts the polar ice caps or sizzles our skin like bacon, it will affect our credit markets. A recent report by Standard & Poor's examines the impact of global warming on corporate credit. The report warns that...

PRIMARY WRAP: Primary Powers Up With Oil And Energy Bonds.
June 4, 2007... Price talk on last week's issuances did not show signs of widening, and mergers and acquisitions continued unabated. Puget Sound Energy priced $250 million in 6.975% junior subordinated notes due 2067. The Bellevue, Wash.-based electric and...

Market Buzz: Calyon Beefs Up U.S. Credit Markets Group.
June 4, 2007... Calyon, the corporate and investment banking arm of French bank Credit Agricole Group, made two new additions last week to its U.S. credit markets division. Mariano Goldfischer - who was formerly a high-yield bond, CDS and LCDS trader with...

Europe: European PIKs Could Interest CDOs If They Look More Like Mezz.
June 4, 2007... The issuance of holdco pay-in-kind (PIK) notes in Europe's leveraged finance market, for purposes other than shareholder payouts, has been increasing rapidly. While most market participants believe this growth is just another expression of...

SECONDARY MARKET WRAP: M&A Rules The Day In Secondary Trading.
June 11, 2007... Mergers and acquisitions boosted bond prices in the electronics and oil and gas sectors last week, while the wreckage of the U.S. housing market and the public's growing aversion to print media continued to batter the price of lumber company...

PIPELINE: First Data Acquisition Set To Break A Few Records.
June 11, 2007... First Data, a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based electronic payment processor, stands to make history in three big sectors of leveraged finance, as it will soon boast the largest technology buyout, covenant-lite loan and junk bond issuance. A...

Q&A: Anders Maxwell: Ready For The Next Downturn.
June 11, 2007... Anders Maxwell has been there and done that. A veteran of the credit markets for more than 30 years, Maxwell has spent the last eight of those as a managing director for New York-based investment bank Peter J. Solomon Co. His focus there is on...

EDITOR's Note: Not The Big, Bad Covenant-Lite Deal, Just, Er, Big.
June 11, 2007... I have to admit that upon learning First Data's plans to issue the largest covenant-lite loan deal ever, not to mention the largest junk bond deal ever, equity bridge and all, my journalistic "bad news" radar began to blinkity, blink, blink....

Market Buzz: Revisions to S&P Recovery Ratings Bring Upgrades.(Industry overview)
June 11, 2007... Standard & Poor's announced revisions to its issue and recovery ratings for speculative-grade corporate debt Thursday. The revision resulted from the ratings agency's expanded recovery ratings initiative and applies only to secured debt. S&P...

Primary Wrap: Energy And Entertainment Brighten Primary Market.
June 11, 2007... Energy and entertainment issuances were some of the largest last week, as companies priced notes on the high yield market with spreads that were still tight. Reliant Energy priced $1.3 billion Wednesday in two tranches. The Houston-based...

Buyout Buzz Benefits Bally Bondholders.
June 11, 2007... Bondholders may soon determine the fate of Bally Total Fitness Holding, the company that operates Bally's, the largest network of health clubs in the U.S. The largest of the troubled company's bondholders have approved its restructuring plan;...

COMMENTARY: Leveraged Finance And The Bank Lawyer.
June 11, 2007... By William D. Egler As recently as the mid-'90s, the practice of a bank lawyer involved in leveraged buyouts was comparatively straightforward. Bank loan documents for LBOs typically required the borrower to maintain certain levels of...

NEWS: Slow Going In StuyTown?
June 11, 2007... Wachovia and Merrill Lynch took perhaps more risk than they bargained for when they contributed a reported $1.5 billion in bridge equity to finance Tishman Speyer's $5.4 billion acquisition of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village from...

Secondary Market wrap: High Yield Trading Survives Treasurys.
June 18, 2007... Treasury volatility threw a monkey wrench into the well-oiled machinery of the high yield secondary last week. However, resilient boldholders didn't quit trading, and this volatility calmed down toward the end of the week. But, fluctuating...

PIPELINE: Controversial Student Lender To Borrow Big For LBO.
June 18, 2007... With the ouster of a boss by a group of new bosses and government investigations, the recent history of SLM Corp., better known as Sallie Mae, is the finance world's answer to "The Sopranos." Unlike the popular cable television show, though,...

Q&A: Deutsche's Toscano Sees Turn On Horizon.(Interview)
June 18, 2007... For 14 plus years, Daniel Toscano has been with Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank, where he started in corporate finance and today heads the senior debt capital markets group in North America. He sat down with High Yield Report last week to talk...

High Yield Experts Agree: Buyers Beware.
June 18, 2007... High yield investors, investment bankers and analysts see interesting, though perhaps tough, times ahead for high yield. At the 17th Annual High Yield Bond Conference of the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA) held last Wednesday...

Market Buzz: Merrill Lynch Makes Quigley Global Head.
June 18, 2007... Merrill Lynch appointed James Quigley, who has headed Latin American global markets and investment banking, as chairman of its international business. Bob Wigley remains chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East and Africa. Quigley will be...

Primary Market Wrap: Bonds Delayed But Not Denied On Primary Market.
June 18, 2007... New issuances continued to come to the high yield primary last week, even as instability in Treasurys managed to delay at least one new issue for a day. Last week saw $2.325 billion in deals price, and another $4.44 billion are in the...

Secondary Market Wrap: M&A News Guides Secondary Trading.
June 25, 2007... Trading on the secondary market was more subdued last week. No Treasury scares to jolt bonds around, and the push to get new issues onto the primary market took the limelight away from the secondary world. The Merrill Lynch High Yield...

PIPELINE: Penn Gaming Rolls The Dice In Private Takeover.
June 25, 2007... Shuffle up and deal. That's what Wyomissing, Penn.-based company Penn National Gaming plans to do following Friday's announcement of its acquisition by Fortress Investment Group and Centerbridge Partners. "[This transaction is] a testament...

PIKs: Toggle Notes Frequent New CCC Issuances.
June 25, 2007... Toggle notes in the CCC category are appearing on the high yield menu with increased frequency. Will this concoction be a strong elixir for bold investors or a poison brew guzzled by foolhardy spendthrifts? The market has yet to make its final...

EDITOR's NOTE: It's Not Just A River In Egypt.
June 25, 2007... An atheist friend of mine once had a long-term relationship with a Muslim. A nine-year relationship. Though doomed to end (she would never become a Muslim and he would never end up with someone who wasn't), these two people were somehow able to...

SECTOR FOCUS: Auto Bonds See Light At End Of Bankrupt Tunnel.
June 25, 2007... Intense competition, high gas prices, labor difficulties and bankruptcy have plagued the U.S. auto industry recently. However, the credit markets have been a small corner of optimism, as bankrupt companies reorganize and investors wait for the...

Primary Market Wrap: Deluge Of New Issues Flood Primary Market.(Thomson Corp. Thomson Learning)
June 25, 2007... Last week saw a tsunami of new issuance as companies rushed to get paper out the door before the July 4 holiday. Investors expect a market slowdown to follow, as people take advantage of the summer season for vacation. Also, underwriters...

Market Buzz: Ares Taps Barclays Lev Finance Pro Plus Two.(Ares Management L.P. appoints Gordon Watters)(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. appoints George Foussianes)(Morris Publishing's financial results)
June 25, 2007... Ares Management announced last week the launch of its private debt middle-market financing activities in Europe, headed up Gordon Watters. Watters joins Ares from Barclays Bank, where he oversaw its middle-market leveraged finance practice in...