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LevFin - All Articles
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CSAM hires direct lending origination head following Qatar tie-up
Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has hired a head of origination in its direct lending group, following the firm's multi-billion push into private credit in partnership with Qatar Investment Authority.
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Smurfit Kappa seals five green promises with loan
Smurfit Kappa, the Irish paper and cardboard packaging company, has signed its first sustainability-linked loan for €1.35bn, at the same time as setting new targets to reduce its carbon footprint and water use and employ more women.
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ION Analytics tries again
ION Analytics has returned to market with a $1.9bn-equivalent loan package to fund the combination of Dealogic with Acuris, a deal it tried to sell ahead of the US election in November but pulled in the face of weakening sentiment and political stability concerns.
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Hyderabad airport soars in bond comeback
GMR Hyderabad International Airport swooped into the bond market on Tuesday for $300m, adding money to its coffers ahead of an expectation of a revival in passenger growth.
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China property builds on dollar momentum
More Chinese real estate borrowers headed to the dollar bond market on Tuesday, as bankers tackle a supply rush in the lead up to the Chinese New Year holidays in mid-February.
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Sun Hung Kai builds HK$5bn club loan
Hong Kong-listed Sun Hung Kai Properties has returned to the loan market for a HK$5bn ($645m) club deal. It is testing lender appetite at a time of growing selectiveness around the sector.
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Buma returns with tender, new money
Indonesian mining company Bukit Makmura Mandiri Utama (Buma) returned to the bond market on Tuesday to raise $400m after a three-year hiatus.
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Fosun slices pricing on loan return
Chinese conglomerate Fosun International has cut pricing on a new $560m-equivalent multi-currency loan, as it counts on banks’ hunger to lend amid slow deal flow to push its transaction past the finish line.
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Partners prices ESG CLO but spread is slow in US market
Partners Group has returned to the US CLO market this year pricing a rare CLO including an ESG factor screen, a trend which is sweeping international market and which is slowly gaining traction in the US.
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BlackRock’s Fink backs net zero, leaves responsibility to clients
BlackRock wants to move a long way towards catching up with leading investors in its response to climate change, its CEO Larry Fink indicated in his annual letter to chief executives on Tuesday. BlackRock stopped short of setting a net zero carbon emissions target for its $8.7tr of assets under management, or committing to swift decarbonisation. But it did publish a ‘net zero commitment’ saying it would “support the goal of net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner”.
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Will direct lenders prove to be wolves in sheep’s clothing?
Direct lenders and debt funds have always pitched themselves as closer partners for businesses than banks, bondholders, or other institutional lenders. When the going gets tough, they can move faster to waive covenants and offer new money than a less concentrated creditor group. But this so called partnership also puts them in pole position to take the keys when things go wrong — which we may see happen this year.
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TalkTalk taps HY ahead of Toscafund takeover
UK broadband company TalkTalk is marketing an add-on to its existing high yield notes, raising new term debt to pay down its revolver. The company is subject to a takeover bid from Toscafund and Penta Capital, which will leave the existing bonds in place, but grant them security, as well as layering in extra leverage with a PIK toggle from Ares.
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China property bond spree continues
Three Chinese property companies announced dollar bond transactions on Monday, continuing the run of issuance seen from the high yield market since the beginning of the year.
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Trio of banks arrange a $700m CLO for GoldenTree
A trio of banks have arranged a $697.84m CLO priced by GoldenTree Loan Management, in its first transaction of the year.
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Fitch stabilizes CLO ratings on new Covid scenario
Fitch Ratings is poised to revise most of its CLO tranches outlooks from negative to stable, following a revision of its CLO coronavirus stress scenario, which is considered no longer representative of the near-term risks for CLOs.
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Stabilus launches Schuldschein as autos fine-tune return
German car part maker Stabilus began marketing a Schuldschein on Monday, as many consider whether the automotive sector should be back on investors' buy lists.
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Klöckner Pentaplast takes ESG margin route for refi loan
Plastics packaging firm Klöckner Pentaplast has included an ESG margin ratchet in the loan leg of its refinancing, which was announced on Monday, a feature set to become increasingly common in European leveraged credit this year. Unlike previous deals with this structure, KP will take this structure to the dollar market, as well as euros.
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H&F preps second fund-switch transaction with TeamSystem
Hellman & Friedman is looking to refinance the capital structure of portfolio company TeamSystem, as part of the sale of the firm from its seventh fund to its ninth, a transfer also recently completed by Verisure. Unlike Verisure, the fund switch isn’t accompanied by a monster dividend payment to the new fund, but the new deal will still jack up leverage levels.
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G.Network logs into £220m loan
G.Network Communications, the London-centric broadband provider, has signed loans totalling £229m, with the company planning a £1bn investment programme into the UK capital.
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Future Retail misses dollar bond payment again
India's Future Retail failed to make an interest payment on its dollar bonds last Friday, making it the second time it has missed a coupon on its debut notes as it struggles to overcome Covid-related woes.
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Taiwanese banks ditch IB-led loans over default fears, MoF guidance
Taiwanese banks are increasingly asking their loans teams to avoid participating in deals led by global investment banks, in line with guidance given by the finance ministry last year and over fears of being burnt again by possible defaults.
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Ex-Morgan Stanley banker joins SC Lowy
Hong-Kong-headquartered bank SC Lowy has hired Jonathan Graber for its trading team in London.
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InfraVia injects SDG into equity bridge
Infravia Capital Partners, the French private equity firm, has amended an equity bridge facility to make it align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Margins are tied to the ESG performance of its fund’s investments, following the lead of EQT and Eurazeo.
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Altitude Infrastructure gets €266m loan funding
Altitude Infrastructure, the French telecoms company, has signed a €266m credit facility, which it will use for two fibre optic networks.
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Sunac reprices curve with $1.1bn outing
Chinese property developer Sunac China Holdings has managed to reprice its secondary curve by raising $1.1bn from tightly priced bonds.
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Duo provides green loan for Cityplaza One acquisition
Standard Chartered and United Overseas Bank have provided a HK$5.29bn ($682m) green loan to support a Gaw Capital Partners-led consortium’s acquisition of Cityplaza One.
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Benefit Street Partners prices last minute CLO reset
More managers are coming into the market to take advantage of tighter spreads, and refinance or reset CLOs while new CLO issuance is expected to really take off in the next two weeks.
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AA’s £280m bond helps rare debt-lowering LBO
Barclays took out the bridge financing for TowerBrook and Warburg Pincus’s takeover of UK roadside assistance group The AA on Wednesday, selling a £280m five year bond at 6.5%.
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Rekeep opens the racy end
Italian facility management company Rekeep signalled market appetite for the spicier end of high yield this week, issuing a €350m five year non-call two at 7.25%. This will trim the company’s sky high funding costs, paying for the redemption of its 9% 2022s.
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ESG securitization: why CLOs are struggling to change colour
Green securitization is firmly on the menu as part of the European Union's push for sustainable investment. But one corner of the market is proving slow to change, despite taking baby steps in that direction.
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Webuild and United spot window for opportunistic HY taps
Two issuers spotted a window on Thursday for opportunistic high yield issues, as the Crossover index had tightened 9bp on Wednesday and there was a firm tone in other risk assets. Italian construction group Webuild launched a €150m tap of its 2025 note, launched in December, while Balkan telco United Group reopened its 2027s for €100m.
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Santander pins corporate finance strategy on ESG
Santander reckons it can harness the power of hydrogen to boost its standing in corporate and investment banking, building on its ESG credentials in similar way to how rivals built supremacy during the internet boom, writes David Rothnie.
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RBC promotes from within as Uden retires
RBC Capital Markets has reorganised its European equity capital markets and corporate broking business following the decision of Darrell Uden to step down at the end of this month.
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Perfect chemistry as investors cheer Ineos’s €4.6bn BP integration package
Investors have enthusiastically backed a €4.6bn financing package for Ineos Quattro, funding the integration of BP’s aromatics and acetyls business into the chemicals conglomerate. Strong demand allowed the company to raise more secured debt than expected, cutting funding costs, and strip out a bank-targeted term loan ‘A’ in favour of a bigger, cheaper, institutional term loan ‘B’.
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Energy firms facing insolvency bank on ABS
Securitization is emerging as the last resort for some US oil and gas companies seeking funding. Banks are deserting the equity and reserve-based lending markets they rely upon. But investors have proved eager to deploy capital in well-structured shale deals that can yield as much as 6%, meaning the ABS market may provide a lifeline for the struggling energy firms, writes Jennifer Kang.
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SJM gets $10bn book for $1bn bond debut
Macau casino operator SJM Holdings generated a $10bn-plus book for its $1bn debut bond this week, despite tight pricing and the lack of US investors. Its credit profile, the transaction’s timing and a comprehensive marketing strategy worked in its favour.
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Mphasis to set new record for LBO loan size from India
Asia’s loans bankers are salivating over the prospects of working on the largest ever leveraged buyout loan from India. Blackstone is looking to exit from IT services company Mphasis in a deal that has seen plenty of interest from other private equity firms. Pan Yue reports.
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Fosun goes offshore for $500m
Chinese conglomerate Fosun International went to the international debt market on Wednesday for a $500m deal.
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CSAM prices largest CLO in two years
Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has priced the largest CLO in the past two years, a $850m transaction with a three year reinvestment period called Madison Park Funding XLVIII.
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Anchorage taps European CLO market after year-long break
Anchorage Capital has mandated Goldman Sachs for its fourth European CLO, a €411.1m transaction offering eight tranches including minority equity.
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Flender financing to set ESG precedent for lagging levfin market
Financing for Carlyle’s purchase of Flender, a turbine gearbox manufacturer, could set a precedent for leveraged finance, which has lagged behind other debt markets in adopting instruments linked to environmental, social and governance conditions. Other issuers are sure to follow, but the market may have to solve other challenges before this can become a market standard.
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Biogroup plans full refi after acquisition spree
Biogroup LCD is planning to refinance its full capital structure and tap the bond market for the first time after a string of recent debt-funded acquisitions. The French lab testing company was a notable casualty of the first wave of Covid-induced market chaos, forced to postpone its plans for a loan in March and then having to pay up when it returned for the financing in June.
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Lenders rush to Grab loan, size gets boost to $1.75bn
Singaporean ride-hailing company Grab Holdings has boosted the size of its term loan B after receiving a strong response from the market, setting the stage for more Asian start-up firms to head to the US for financing.
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Kaisa, BOC Aviation go for taps
Kaisa Group Holdings and BOC Aviation used swift taps to add more money to their coffers on Tuesday.
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Senior CLO debt managed by Seix slashed by 37bp in AMR auction
Seix Investment Advisors has successfully refinanced a CLO using an applicable margin reset (AMR) auction, slashing senior debt costs by 37bp.
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The wrong time to restrict leveraged lending
The ECB's attempts to curb leveraged lending are damaging, inconsistent, and come at exactly the wrong time
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Fidelity moves into private credit with team hire
Fidelity International has hired a team of 10 private credit specialists from MeDirect Bank, in its first foray into European private debt.
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China property flurry continues with four new bonds
Four Chinese high yield property companies had the dollar market to themselves on Monday as a public holiday in the US kept other Asian issuers at bay. But the borrowers raised just modest amounts to tackle some of their refinancing needs.
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Provident Square links loan pricing to occupancy rate
Provident Square, a shopping mall in the North Point area in Hong Kong, is seeking a HK$1.4bn ($180m) loan for refinancing.
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Afme proposes recapping with equity-like
Many EU companies could do with capital beyond debt, according to the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (Afme). The trade body, in a report it produced alongside PwC, suggests encouraging the use of equity-adjacent products to fill balance sheet gaps from the coronavirus crisis.
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Dawn of Schuldschein debuts as TeamViewer launches ESG deal
German software company TeamViewer launched an inaugural Schuldschein deal on Monday, with margins linked to its ESG performance. Five new borrowers have entered the Schuldschein market so far this year, almost half as many as appeared throughout the whole of 2020.
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Aedifica debuts in US PPs
Aedifica, a Belgium-based healthcare property investment company, has launched a US private placement, according to market sources.
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Primary HY gathers pace with triple mandate Monday
After a modest start to 2021, European leveraged finance started to fire on all cylinders this week, with three new bonds and a loan announced, alongside Ineos Quattro’s €4.6bn debt package which began marketing efforts last week.
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Chinese borrowers keep up bond flow
Chinese companies were undeterred from selling bonds last Friday, usually a quiet day of the week for deal flow, with four borrowers raising funds.
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China Fortune Land bonds plummet on rating hit
China Fortune Land Development Co's bonds were the worst performing among Asian high yield notes last week amid rising pressure on the company’s international ratings.
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Two-phase syndication for Greenfields acquisition loan underway
The senior syndication stage for a $140m-equivalent loan to support TPG and Northstar Group’s acquisition of a majority stake in Japfa’s southeast Asian dairy business is set to close by the end of this week.
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Trafigura causes stir with debut Schuldschein
Commodities trading giant Trafigura has launched a Schuldschein which, due to its poor credit profile and high intended yield, is a clear outlier in the market, while some bankers are surprised that such a large company would try to raise such a small loan.
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Hamburg Airport fails to land Schuldschein
Hamburg Airport has pulled a Schuldschein transaction with an initial target of €100m, according to several market sources, due to a lack of interest from investors.
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Greater China borrowers swarm dollar market
The frenetic pace of dollar bond issuance from Greater China continued on Thursday as three property companies and two government linked names courted investors.
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People news in brief
Natixis promotes DCM bankers — Powell quits IFAD job — NatWest Markets makes Peberdy, Donaldson and Manwaring's positions permanent
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TIM and Autostrade slip in before political fears hit
TIM, formerly Telecom Italia, got almost €4bn of demand for its debut sustainability bond on Monday, a €1bn eight year. The company put its sustainable financing framework in place last year, an umbrella document allowing it to raise green, social or sustainable finance in bond or loan format.
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UK MD at Goldman joins digital infra investment firm
Digital Colony, which invests in mobile and internet infrastructure, has hired Latifa Tefridj-Gaillard as head of Europe capital formation.
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First dual-compliant post-Brexit CLO closes
The first CLO to comply with both diverging regimes in the UK and the EU has closed, marking a post-Brexit point of no return for the securitization market.
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Politics and Covid fail to dent UK fee pool optimism
Bankers are betting on a strong year for the UK — Europe’s biggest fee pool — but the overlapping concerns of Brexit, Covid-19 and regulation make for an uncertain outlook, writes David Rothnie.
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Record year for CLO refis as managers look to revamp Covid deals
This year looks likely to set records for CLO resets and refinancings, as managers call deals priced since the coronavirus pandemic began with wide spreads and expensive capital structures. Tightening spreads have also brought some 2018 and 2019 deals into refi or repricing territory, setting up a record year with as much as $78bn in refinancing and $115bn in resets, according to estimates from Deutsche Bank. Paola Aurisicchio reports.
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Banks unveil bond leg of Verisure’s €1.6bn divi package
Banks launched the bond leg of a combined €5bn refinancing for alarm company Verisure, which will raise cash for a €1.6bn dividend to shareholder Hellman & Friedman. This payment follows the transfer of the company between two H&F funds at a €14bn valuation.
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Mayr-Melnhof Karton launches debut Schuldschein deal
Austrian paper and packaging firm Mayr-Melnhof Karton, called MM Karton for short, has launched a Schuldscheine, with an initial target of €300m.
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Europcar CDS worthless as auction misfires
Some €700m of CDS contracts referencing Europcar’s debt have been rendered worthless thanks to a technical squeeze in the CDS auction on Wednesday, in a blow for investors who thought they’d hedged their exposure to the troubled car rental firm. The controversial result threatens to reignite debates about whether the CDS market is fit for purpose, ahead of an expected wave of restructurings in the year to come.
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First Resources seeks $150m dual-currency loan
Singapore-listed palm oil company First Resources is tapping the loan market for a $150m-equivalent dual-currency deal.
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DFG becomes Vibrant Capital Partners
DFG Investment Advisers, a $7.3bn alternative credit investment management firm, has changed its name to Vibrant Capital Partners.
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Together prints first sterling HY of 2021
Together Money launched a £450m secured bond on Wednesday, the first sterling issue in the high yield market this year. The specialist mortgage lender was refinancing a bond due in 2024 and paying down some of the drawings under its Charles Street conduit securitization.
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Arbour joins ICG from Palamon Capital
Intermediate Capital Group, the UK alternative asset manager, has hired Philippe Arbour from Palamon Capital Partner to help further develop its Senior Debt Partners strategy.
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MJX opens up 2021 CLO mart with pre-Covid structure
MJX Asset Management has opened up the US CLO market for the new year, with an actively managed deal with five year reinvestment period, the norm for the pre-Covid period. This paves the way for a flurry of CLOs that are expected to pop up in the coming four weeks, sources said.
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CLO refis return as spreads tighten
Reset and refinancing activity is returning to the European CLO market, after a year of virtual absence, as spreads tightened further in the first week of 2021, especially at the bottom of the capital structure. Partners Group is in the market with a reset of Penta 5, aiming for a sub-100bp print at the top of the capital structure.
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Kartesia appoints full time head of CSR, ESG
Specialist private lender Kartesia has appointed a full time head of corporate social responsibility and environmental, social and governance issues.
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CLO managers take Dutch tax gamble
It’s been almost a year since a Dutch tax ruling sent CLO managers scurrying to Ireland to avoid a VAT charge. But with the changes coming into action in 2021, some CLO managers are leaving their vehicles in the Netherlands and taking their chances on a ruling from the supreme court.
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Autostrade follows TIM’s break through fair value
Autostrade per l’Italia, the Italian motorway group, is marketing a nine year unsecured bond through Morgan Stanley, capitalising on the strong demand demonstrated by TIM’s eight year issue on Monday, which came through fair value on a €3.9bn book.
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Beijing Capital drops perp, prices bigger senior bond
Beijing Capital Group Co, which marketed a two-tranche deal on Monday, decided to ditch the planned perpetual note and instead price a larger senior tranche for cost reasons.
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Masan invites banks to $250m loan
Vietnam’s Masan Group Corp is inviting lenders to join an up to $250m loan to support an investment into one of its subsidiaries.
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Vingroup returns with $400m loan
Vingroup Joint Stock Co has launched an up to $400m loan to the market.
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Moody’s starts upgrading CLO tranches
Moody’s has started the process of upgrading CLO tranches, following an update to its methodology late last year. On Friday, the agency upgraded ratings on $311m of CLO notes across four deals.
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Sticks and carrots to drive broadening of sustainable finance
Practitioners believe 2021 could be the year when sustainable finance finally breaks out of the narrow confines it has inhabited so far and spreads more widely across the economy.
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Fox named Elfa chief executive
Sabrina Fox has been named chief executive of the European Leveraged Finance Association, following two years as executive adviser during which she rapidly expanded the nascent organisation into a buy-side trade association with 37 member firms.
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TIM makes sustainability debut
TIM, formerly Telecom Italia, had almost €4bn of demand for its debut sustainability bond on Monday, a €1bn eight year. The company put its sustainable financing framework in place last year, an umbrella document allowing it to raise green, social or sustainable finance in bond or loan format.
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Sixth Street, Investec close European direct lending funds
Sixth Street and Investec this week both said they had closed European direct lending funds.
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Investec launches debut direct lending fund
Investec has announced the first close of an inaugural direct lending fund targeting Western Europe’s small cap companies, which Investec believes are underserved by banks and other lenders.
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Onex snags BlackRock portfolio manager to lead euro CLO biz
Onex Credit Partners has appointed Conor Daly to head its European CLO franchise, building out its capacity to tap into the European securitization market in 2021.
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Ineos Quattro launches funding for BP buyout, consents for new cap stack
Banks have launched the funding for Ineos’s purchase of BP’s aromatics and acetyls business into syndication, with €2.6bn of new first lien term loan 'B' on offer, plus a package of amendments to Ineos Styrolution’s existing bond and loan debt.
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Tikehau hires new COO for private debt business
Alternative asset manager Tikehau Capital has hired a new chief operating officer for its private debt strategy, who will also be responsible for private debt investments in France.
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Pan Brothers hit with downgrade on looming loan refi pressure
Indonesian garment company Pan Brothers has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings for the third time in the past three months as a result of refinancing pressure.
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CP Group mulls bond/loan combo for Tesco Asia debt takeout
Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group will likely tap both the bond and loan markets to take out a bridge facility raised last year for the acquisition of retail giant Tesco’s Asia business.
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Fortune Oil seeks $400m for 2018 deal refi
Hong Kong-based energy firm Fortune Oil has returned to the loan market. It is seeking $400m-equivalent to refinance an old borrowing sealed in 2018.
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Chinese issuers wrap up busy week for issuance
Five Chinese corporate borrowers pushed into the debt market on Thursday, capping a frantic pace of deal flow this week that set a new record for Asia bond issuance.
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SMEs face reckoning as lenders flee and ECB boosts bigger rivals
Europe’s small and medium sized enterprises fear dark days ahead, as treasurers complain of banks withdrawing support and express concerns that central bank bond buying programmes favour the biggest and best capitalised companies. Mike Turner reports.
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Adler blasts open HY’s top end with nearly €5bn book
Adler Group, the German property firm, was the first European leveraged issue out of the gate in 2021 — a BB+ rated name tailor-made to tempt investment grade tourist money, which it managed in style, drawing a book of €4.9bn for a €1.5bn dual tranche issue on Thursday.
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HSBC's Asia ambitions remain after Enns leaves
HSBC’s aims to boost market share in investment banking and rebalance towards Asia remain intact despite the resignation of one of its most senior lieutenants. But 2021 must be about execution, writes David Rothnie.
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Pressure builds in strong levfin pipeline
Bankers are readying a fat pipeline of new primary projects in leveraged finance, which are likely to meet a deep swell of investor demand — with P2Ps, carve-outs, acquisitions and secondary deals all ready to be distributed in the first quarter, thanks to a reviving M&A market in the second half of last year.
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Ex-Mizuho risk transfer banker lands at Munich Re
Juan-Carlos Martorell, who jointly ran the risk transfer and structured solutions group at Mizuho, and before that, Lazard, has joined Munich Re Markets to work on origination, structuring and risk distribution, according to LinkedIn.
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Carlyle launches sustainable loan for Siemens gearing carve-out
Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and UniCredit have launched the buyout funding for Carlyle’s €2bn purchase of Flender, a company making wind turbine gearing, from Siemens. On offer is a €1.045bn term loan 'B' in sustainable format, plus a €150m revolver and €125m guarantee facility.
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Grab turns to US investors for $750m TLB financing
Singaporean ride-hailing company Grab Holdings has added a dash of excitement to the loan market with plans to raise $750m from a new outing. Pan Yue reports.
