Top stories
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Levfin market embraces Elfa with hope and caution
The new European Leveraged Finance Alliance investor group is set to become a fixture of the market, participants say, but guesses about its long term impact are disparate.
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New Look no Phones 4U, say high yield participants
The size of a radical debt restructuring proposed this week by New Look, the UK fashion retailer fighting for survival, caught some by surprise. But high yield bankers and investors agreed that this event will not shut the market as the Phones 4U debacle did four years ago.
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End Brexit paralysis, plead levfin investors
This week’s parliamentary vote in the UK on a withdrawal agreement for its exit from the European Union has emptied the deal pipeline in the euro leveraged finance markets in early January. But after the plan was rejected on Tuesday, any clarity about the near future looks unlikely, and some debt buyers say borrowers have little reason to wait for longer.
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PE sponsors eager to bring new wave of loose deal documentation
Private equity sponsors have bankers and lawyers working on deals that will seek more flexibility and borrower-friendly covenants this year. But investors are also likely to offer tougher scrutiny this year.
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Bankers forecast dry first quarter for HY, and risk of defaults slowly increasing
Issuance in Europe’s high yield bond market should take off after March, participants say, predicting a slow but resilient first quarter, even though new distressed credits may emerge in January.
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Levfin investors band together against borrower domination
Investors in the leveraged finance market established a new trade body this week, giving them the chance to push back against aggressive covenant terms, and offering an alternative forum to the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, increasingly dominated by the sell side following a mass walk-out by the buy side last year.
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Cobepa mandates two for Scalian as underwriters start deal hunt
Belgian private equity firm Cobepa is funding its acquisition of Scalian, the engineering consultancy, with two French investment banks.
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Anta launches €2.2bn loan with HSBC joining as MLAB
Anta Sports Products has launched its €2.2bn loan to back the acquisition of Amer Sports Oyj into general syndication, with HSBC joining the bookrunning group.
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Elfa triggers chain reaction across levfin trade bodies
Leveraged finance industry bodies are a changin’. The two main trade organisations led by the sell side are set to open talks with a new, more independent investor lobby taking its first steps on Wednesday.
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KKR to shrink leveraged loan exposure in 2019
Anticipating further deterioration in US corporate credit, KKR said it will reallocate all of its dedicated leveraged loan capital this year to an opportunistic fund that will span across corporate credit sectors.
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Fitch joins ESG caravan with relevance scores
Fitch Ratings has remedied its long lack of a visible response to the rise of environmental, social and governance investing by launching a set of ESG relevance scores.
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Overheating lev loans may breed HY issuance, says HY sell side
While leveraged market participants expect loans to maintain their lead over fixed income in volume terms, some underwriters and lawyers believe market fatigue is beginning to make borrowers turn their attention to high yield bonds again.
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Afme tries to placate HY investors with info concessions
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe will host a special meeting of its high yield bond division on Wednesday, sources have told GlobalCapital, in an effort to woo back disgruntled investors.
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Spain’s €37bn corp maturity wall faces political wrecking ball
Spanish political risk is set to spike in 2019 as the country goes to the polls in local, regional, European and possibly national elections during the next six months. But Spanish companies may be ill prepared to work out more flexible funding plans to cope with this, investors and bankers warned this week. Victor Jimenez and Nigel Owen report.
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Dia, Abengoa push rescue plans in attempt to calm market fears
Two troubled Spanish high yield credits, supermarket firm Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación (Dia) and energy group Abengoa, have started the year with new schemes to reassure investors. More Spanish companies may want to follow suit, sources said, as the country faces a surge in political risk in 2019.
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Loans primed but levfin needs strong start
The 2019 loans market is raring to go, but lending officials say that the leveraged loan market needs some strong deals right away to ease the hangover lingering from last year.
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Sponsors to have a soft spot for software in 2019
Leveraged finance markets are set for a fresh stream of buyout deals in the software industry next year, with Europe becoming a busier playground for US private equity firms.
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French banks shine in rough year for leveraged finance
The global high yield bond market has produced $320bn of new issues in 2018, up to December 21, 43% down on last year’s total of $563bn, according to Dealogic. Sentiment has turned progressively more bearish as the year has worn on, with concerns about US-China trade hostility and overvaluation of US equities biting.
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More retail funds join leveraged loan exodus
A wave of mutual fund redemptions is pushing a loan market sell-off deeper as investors look to cash out of a potentially overheated investment, said leveraged loan market sources this week.
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Don’t expect 2019 to start with a big bang, say high yield funds
The European high yield bond market is storing December’s pipeline for January, but several investors warned that demand may still be thin in the new year and that borrowers should pace their plans for issuance.
Go to GlobalCapital's Leveraged Finance data pages for the latest bookrunner league tables and information on priced deals.
Latest levfin people & markets news
High Yield priced deals database
| Date | Issuer | Maturity | Cur. | Size | Coupon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 29-Nov-18 | Nidda Bondco GmbH | 30-Sep-25 | € | 250 | 7.25% |
| 28-Nov-18 | Algeco Global Finance plc | 15-Feb-23 | € | 85 | 6.5% |
| 28-Nov-18 | Algeco Global Finance plc | 15-Feb-23 | € | 40 | 3-mth Euribor +625bp |
| 15-Nov-18 | Groupe Ecore Holding SAS | 15-Nov-23 | € | 255 | -mth Euribor +625bp |
| 09-Nov-18 | International Design Group SpA | 15-Nov-25 | € | 400 | 6.5% |
Latest high yield bond news
Latest leveraged loan news
Latest CLO news
Bookrunners of European Leveraged Loans
| Rank | Lead Manager | Amount $m | No of issues | Share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swedbank | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
| 1 | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
| 1 | SEB | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
| 1 | Nordea | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
| 1 | Natixis | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
Bookrunners of European HY Bonds
| Rank | Lead Manager | Amount €m | No of issues | Share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JPMorgan | 200.50 | 2 | 12.59% |
| 1 | Deutsche Bank | 200.50 | 2 | 12.59% |
| 3 | UniCredit | 113.00 | 1 | 7.09% |
| 3 | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | 113.00 | 1 | 7.09% |
| 3 | Mediobanca | 113.00 | 1 | 7.09% |
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Latest news by market and league table performance
Bookrunners of European Leveraged Loans
| Rank | Lead Manager | Amount $m | No of issues | Share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swedbank | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
| 1 | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
| 1 | SEB | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
| 1 | Nordea | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
| 1 | Natixis | 160.81 | 1 | 11.11% |
Bookrunners of European HY Bonds
| Rank | Lead Manager | Amount €m | No of issues | Share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JPMorgan | 200.50 | 2 | 12.59% |
| 1 | Deutsche Bank | 200.50 | 2 | 12.59% |
| 3 | UniCredit | 113.00 | 1 | 7.09% |
| 3 | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | 113.00 | 1 | 7.09% |
| 3 | Mediobanca | 113.00 | 1 | 7.09% |
Bookrunners of Dollar Denominated HY Bonds
| Rank | Lead Manager | Amount $m | No of issues | Share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bank of America Merrill Lynch | 544.58 | 5 | 11.06% |
| 2 | JPMorgan | 482.08 | 5 | 9.79% |
| 3 | Wells Fargo Securities | 374.58 | 3 | 7.61% |
| 3 | Goldman Sachs | 374.58 | 3 | 7.61% |
| 5 | SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc | 366.66 | 4 | 7.45% |
