Loans and High Yield

Silver Lake Management, the US private equity firm, has agreed to buy ZPG, the parent of UK property search website Zoopla, for £2.2bn. It has already lined up debt to fund the purchase.

China’s Hefei Guoxuan High-Tech Power Energy has tapped the offshore loan market for the first time, unveiling a $300m loan.

After releasing first quarter results, Canadian drugmaker Valeant is again looking to refinance old debt with less restrictive facilities, announcing a new $5.3bn refinancing package on Thursday.

Mizuho Americas said it had hired five people on its high yield sales and trading desk, as the firm looks to beef up its leveraged finance capabilities, alongside larger plans to build out its US investment bank.

Lloyds Bank has replaced Ian Baggott, its head of loan markets.

Interserve, the struggling support services and construction firm, has signed an £834m-equivalent three year refinancing facility, just months after it narrowly avoided breaching a covenant on its old debt.

Fundraising for private debt in Europe has slowed, but a new pan-European private debt fund from US house Muzinich targeting mid-market businesses, had raised €460m at its third close this week. The final close is expected later this year.

ZTE Corp’s travails have taken a toll on the Chinese telecommunications firm and its bank lenders, with the company seeking a waiver after a covenant breach on a $450m loan. Despite the Chinese government throwing its weight behind ZTE, smaller lenders in the syndicate are worried about the ramifications, writes Pan Yue.

Asia’s high yield market has been volatile throughout much of the year, but it has now gone from bad to worse. Secondary prices are diving, investors are becoming increasingly tight-lipped and bankers are starting to play the blame game. Morgan Davis and Addison Gong investigate.

A new grouping is set to join the legion of initiatives promoting a more sustainable financial system: the Principles for Responsible Banking.

Law firm Ropes & Gray has hired former Goldman Sachs managing director Carol Van der Vorst as a partner in its leveraged finance team in Europe.

The European leveraged finance primary market has been idling this week, with less than €1bn of paper on offer. Backstage, however, things have been buzzing.