Loans and High Yield

Vietnamese car manufacturer Truong Hai Auto Corp has closed its debut offshore borrowing, increasing the size of the loan to $210m.

Houlihan Lokey’s European corporate finance land grab has made its fifth acquisition since 2014, writes David Rothnie, at a time when the fluctuations of the credit cycle may be about to lead to more restructurings.

French equipment leasing firm Kiloutou locked in an opportunistic refinancing of its loans with a new dual tranche €820m high yield bond on Thursday, easing its covenant constraints at the expense of adding call protection. At initial talk, the deal appeared to have little pricing rationale, but the market proved keen to support it, and the company added an extra €40m and priced through guidance.

Investors have dumped Peking University Founder Group Co’s $2.95bn of dollar bonds after a default by the company in onshore China rattled markets. But despite numerous default situations from the country making headlines this year, market participants are not hitting the panic button just yet, writes Addison Gong.

BRI Multifinance Indonesia (BRI Finance) is tapping the offshore loan market for an up to $100m borrowing.

Commercial banks are in the driving seat for the highly levered financing of Cinven and Astorg’s purchase of testing business LGC Group. Regulatory issues are said to have kept some US banks away from the deal, but others question whether a large revolver commitment had more of an impact.

The syndicated loan market’s shift from Libor to risk-free rates has come under further scrutiny. Law firm Dentons released a report on Wednesday that highlights significant parts of the changeover that remain unresolved.

Fixed income investors are eager to close the books on a strong year for returns in high beta credit, and are sitting on their hands, hoping to avoid a repeat of the ugly end to 2018. But still the debut borrowers come.

Three Chinese property names hit the bond market on Tuesday, raising a combined $1.624bn in a mix of senior and subordinated trades.

CVC-backed financial technology firm Sisal Pay is marketing a €530m issue of senior floating-rate notes to finance a merger with Intesa Sanpaolo-owned Banca 5’s payments business. The new venture is aiming to be the next Nexi, another Italian fintech star that listed recently and has had success in the high yield bond market too.

Polite, sincere, with a swift wit, David Pepper had a huge presence in Europe's syndicated loan market.

Peking University Founder Group Co failed to repay a Rmb2bn ($284m) onshore bond on Monday, as worries about its mounting debt continue to put pressure on its dollar bonds.