Loans and High Yield

UK courts have endorsed gym chain Virgin Active’s restructuring plan, a precedent-setting move which shows that the UK’s new restructuring law with its ‘cross-class cramdown’ feature can be used instead of a CVA to cut debts to landlords. Some claim it represents a further attack on already-struggling landlords, but others argue than having all creditors share the pain at the outset should mean better recoveries if other chains follow this approach.

The rapid pace of new dollar bond issuance from Chinese property companies continued from Monday into Tuesday as four more borrowers joined the fray.

Philippine company Vista Land & Lifescapes bagged $170m from a tap of its 2027 notes this week.

Chinese conglomerate Fosun International has sold its second dollar bond of 2021, raising $500m once again.

China Water Affairs Group has made a rare outing in the debt market for a $200m green bond.

Cathay Pacific Airways has sold its first dollar bond in more than 20 years, battling suppressed business over the last two years to raise $650m from the long-overdue deal.

JSW Hydro Energy, a subsidiary of Indian power company JSW Energy, sold its first international bond this week, taking $707m from the green transaction.

Four Chinese property companies rushed into the dollar bond market on Monday, following weeks of limited to no supply from the sector.

Piramal Glass has closed its $355m leveraged buyout loan, receiving strong response from 14 participants.

Monday brought another strong start to the week for European high yield, with six new bonds announced and other deals, such as EQT’s Cerba healthcare financing, set to close this week. Italian issuers led the way, with bonds for International Design Group, Lutech and Cedacri in the market.

Swedish private equity firm EQT launched senior and subordinated bonds on Monday to finance its acquisition of Cerba Healthcare, the diagnostics company headquartered in France.

JP Morgan is running the acquisition financing for Ion Investment Group’s purchase of Italian banking software group Cedacri, a major shift for the finance, technology and data group, which has relied on Credit Suisse and UBS to fund its spree of its debt-fuelled acquisitions. The group also turned to high yield bonds for the first time recently, a major departure for a company which once prized the privacy of the loan market.