The deal to back the buyout of Cendant Marketing's marketing service division by Affinion, formerly Affinity Acquisition Holdings, was reworked last week with lead banks Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank upping the term loan by $100 million. A bond portion was decreased by $100 million. Affinity is an affiliate of Apollo Advisors.
The deal now consists of a six-year, $125 million revolver and a seven-year, $860 million term loan "B." The "B" loan was $760 million at launch. Pricing had been talked in the LIBOR plus 2 1/4% to 2 1/2% range but stands at LIBOR plus 2 3/4%. The price increase was not due to weakness on the loan syndication side, but rather to the relative value of the bonds, a banker said. The deal also has a proposed $266.4 million senior unsecured notes, according to Standard & Poor's, which rated the bank debt B+. It assigned a B- to the notes. Calls to Cendant and Apollo were not returned.