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GC Asia
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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.
26 Jan 2021 -
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.
26 Jan 2021 -
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.
25 Jan 2021 -
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.
25 Jan 2021 -
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%.
21 Jan 2021 -
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.
20 Jan 2021 -
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.
14 Jan 2021 -
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.
14 Jan 2021 -
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.
07 Jan 2021 -
Fixing Europe’s companies: the Covid rescue playbook
Corporate finance in 2020 was utterly without precedent. Never before had so many once-stable firms seen revenues evaporate instantly, with so little visibility on when the world might recover. Companies did whatever they could to hang on, pulling every lever available to source scarce cash. As 2021 begins, so will a new phase, where the fallout of the Covid rescue playbook becomes clear. Owen Sanderson reports.
17 Dec 2020
