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GC Asia
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Cirsa bonds bounce as Blackstone buys back PIK notes
Bonds issued by Spanish gambling company Cirsa have rallied on expectations of support from owner Blackstone, after it disclosed on its investor call that affiliates of the private equity firm had bought €120m of its PIK notes in the market — even though the purchase does nothing to boost the firm’s liquidity profile.
28 May 2020 -
Sponsors seen seeking competitors’ loans
Some financial sponsors are said to be trying to purchase loans from their competitors’ portfolio companies, as an opportunistic way to benefit from the coronavirus-driven disruption. But the European loan market’s restrictive transfer provisions make this a legal high-wire act.
19 May 2020 -
Water park group finds extra liquidity
Theme park group Parques Reunidos has raised an extra €200m from a "select group of existing investors", as it seeks to combat the coronavirus-impaired operating environment that has shut many of its water park locations across Europe.
18 May 2020 -
Euro high yield market not ready to step up for rescue finance
While the US high yield market has delivered a deluge of secured rescue bonds to bail out airlines, cruise lines, car rental firms, hotels and other "zero revenue" virus casualties, European high yield has stayed sedate, cautious, and stuck to the safest sectors. Can the European bond market rise to rescue financing?
14 May 2020 -
First HY debut since virus crisis buoyed by oil storage boom
Rubis Terminal looks set to make the first European high yield debut since the coronavirus crisis hit, announcing a new €410m issue to fund a minority investment by I Squared Capital. Business has boomed at the company, which operates bulk liquid storage, thanks to the collapsing oil price.
11 May 2020 -
Sponsors mull cost of turning to state support schemes
With leveraged companies largely shut out of central bank bond buying and price support schemes, sponsors are mulling government-backed lending schemes in several European countries, as they seek to show other creditors that they have abundant access to liquidity. But the schemes often come with strings attached, which could do nearly as much damage to a sponsor's investment thesis as a restructuring.
11 May 2020 -
Sponsors set to turn to direct lenders to fund buyouts
Direct lending funds are likely to be the best choice for sponsors looking to fund buyouts this summer, with investment banks still sitting on substantial bridge books, and simplicity and certainty of execution being the top priorities.
05 May 2020 -
High yield crowd boo Selecta
Coffee machine company Selecta’s high yield bonds dropped 24 points on Wednesday after it released awful numbers for the fourth quarter of last year — sending leverage shooting up well before any coronavirus impact. It was the first company in Europe to announce it had raised new super-senior debt from its sponsor, KKR Credit, which injected a €50m liquidity facility into the capital structure in March.
30 Apr 2020 -
Verisure tiptoes into wide open HY market
Hellman & Friedman-owned alarm company Verisure announced a new European high yield bond on Thursday, the first after a drought of more than seven weeks. The deal is a conservative place to restart high yield primary markets, but bankers said there is appetite for more challenging issuers to come.
16 Apr 2020 -
Private equity funds warned over quarter-end numbers
The International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines (Ipev) body has warned funds to take special care over quarter-end reporting and valuation of portfolios, so that marks for sponsor-owned companies reflect as well as they can the devastation of the coronavrius pandemic, rather than the benign conditions prevailing at the start of the year.
09 Apr 2020
