Loans and High Yield

Thanks to a lawsuit in the US, the question of whether leveraged loans are securities or not appears to be on the table. The challenge points to a gap in the regulation of modern capital markets that needs filling in.

Long-dated dollar bonds issued by Indonesian companies have been taking a beating in the secondary market, with the country's high yield sector also expected to suffer from the negative impact of an ongoing trade war between two of the world's biggest economies.

Hellman & Friedman portfolio company Verisure announced a tap of its €300m 2023s on Monday morning, adding an extra €200m to the issue to pay back its revolver.

Kames Capital has appointed Thomas Hanson as head of high yield fixed income and Eleanor Price as a high yield analyst.

All3Media, a subsidiary of Liberty Global and Discovery, which makes TV shows including ‘Fleabag’, ‘Call the Midwife’ and ‘Peep Show’, is in the market with a term loan B to refinance debt.

A hail of high yield and leveraged loan deals hit the European market this week, making it seem like investors and bankers were unaware of the angst permeating equity markets since President Donald Trump decided to up the ante in his trade poker game with China. Not every deal was a blowout, however — United Group priced its PIK note wide of guidance and Virgin Media failed to tighten.

Shandong-based coal miner Yankuang Group Co was able to price a $500m tap almost 30bp inside where the existing notes were trading on Thursday, while E-House (China) Enterprise Holdings, a real estate services firm, also added $100m to an outstanding bond.

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K+S, the potash and salt producer, has refinanced its revolving credit facility a year early, to lock in favourable borrowing terms at it seeks to move back to positive free cashflow for the first time for more than five years.

Casino operator MGM China Holdings priced a larger-than-expected $1.5bn 144A/Reg S deal this week, and both tranches rallied in the secondary market despite a broader risk-off sentiment.

The Co-operative Group, the UK food retailer and provider of funeral, legal and insurance services, launched its first sustainable bond on Wednesday and achieved impressive demand. But that had little to do with its ethical characteristics.

Softness in risk asset markets has not choked off the flow of new high yield issues in Europe, though there are no investment grade new issues on Wednesday, a French holiday. Virgin Media is holding investor calls today for a new $825m and £300m senior secured issue, rated Ba3/BB-/BB+.