SLI, a lighting company dealing in lamps and fixtures, was bumping up against the end of waiver period and looking for a long-term amendment as LMW went to press Friday. The name has drawn attention in the secondary market over the past two weeks, with big pieces reported to have traded in the 40s. Last week a $15 million piece was believed to have traded out of a Japanese Bank in the 45-46 range. Traders said that a $20 million piece traded in the 46-47 range two weeks ago.
The company secured a waiver after it violated its maximum leverage ratio by exceeding 9.3 leverage. But the waiver was up last Friday, and at press time there was no word on whether the company was close to getting the amendment. Calls to Robert Mancini, cfo, and Stephen Cummings, executive v.p. finance, were not returned by press time. If the SLI does not reach an agreement it will be in default under its credit agreement. The company also suffered two non-payment defaults in April, according to its May 15 10-Q. Traders speculated that the name may not be trading on the waiver deadline, but rather has moved on its lower than expected quarterly results.
Chris Quilty, a Raymond James analyst who follows the company, said SLI is the classic story of a company that was overly aggressive in its acquisitions and ended up writing down its assets and saddled with the debt. It was also wounded from a general slowdown in the lighting business, he noted.