Loans and High Yield

Marketing is under way for what will be one of the year’s chunkier buyout packages in Europe, preparing the acquisition debt for PAI Partners’ purchase of Elior Concessions.

GlobalCapital is conducting a global research survey on the fast-changing markets for sustainable financing and investing. It will combine the views of issuers and investors to give a nuanced picture of how this trend is changing capital markets for both groups.

Crossover credit Nokia is the latest borrower to switch its bank debt to a sustainability-linked margin, with the Finnish phone company also lengthening the tenor of its revolving credit lines.

Greenland Holding Group Co tackled a July maturity by raising $500m from a bond on Tuesday, but the company still has more refinancing pressure in the near term.

Four major announcements have been made today by the European Commission and its Technical Expert Group, which is drafting the substance of several parts of its multi-faceted Sustainable Finance Action Plan. There were new texts on the Taxonomy, Green Bond Standard and Low Carbon Benchmarks regulations as well as guidelines for companies on how to report climate change-related information. Many market participants welcomed them.

Vue International’s revamped refinancing has tightened doc terms and pricing at the same time, ahead of commitments later on Tuesday, making it harder for part-owner Omers to take money out through its sub-debt —while also narrowing the OID and testing tighter pricing. The issuer may also include a sterling carve-out.

The European Leveraged Finance Alliance has prepared a questionnaire on deal covenants, to help investors grill arrangers and issuers at roadshow meetings, circulating the standard question list to the market’s big investment banks, as well as to its investor members.

Xi'an Municipal Infrastructure Construction Investment Group Corp has sealed a seven times subscribed bond to refinance an upcoming maturity. The deal was the first to price after China announced measures to curb local government debt by restricting new offshore issuance from their financing vehicles.

Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands is seeking a total of S$4bn ($2.9bn) from the loan market, while also planning to extend its 2012 borrowing.

FRANKFURT PRIVATE DEBT ROUNDTABLE The Schuldschein market has kept up its momentum across Europe and elsewhere, but two regions have been curiously quiet. Iberia and Italy have implied investment grade borrowers well suited to the market, yet only a few have been tempted to use it. Are there barriers to entry and how can they be overcome?

Europe’s private debt markets are progressing admirably. More and more companies are issuing, or at least aware of the possibility — and they have a varied choice of markets. Players in the Schuldschein and US PP markets are confident and looking ahead to new opportunities, as the products grow in geographical reach, asset class and technique. As Jon Hay reports, there’s just one snag — the credit cycle is nearing its end.

Flushed with years of popularity in Germany and its neighbouring countries, Schuldschein arrangers have begun to look across the globe for new borrowers to tempt to the market. This year has brought the first transaction from India, and many say Reliance Industries’ success may spur more non-European entities to target the Schuldschein investors. Silas Brown reports.