Loans and High Yield

Tricor Holdings is planning a return to the loan market to refinance a HK$2.8bn ($360m) borrowing it sealed in 2016 for a leveraged buyout by investment firm Permira.

Asia’s leveraged buyout loan market is facing a setback after a planned financing to back the acquisition of Mphasis, an Indian IT services firm, was scrapped as discussions between the buyer and seller fell through.

China Hongqiao Group and Guangdong Lingyi iTech Manufacturing Co are seeking loans worth a total of $350m.

Chilean cable company VTR brought life to the Latin America primary bond market on Wednesday, but the company was unable to tighten its new senior-secured eight-year deal beyond guidance as markets are remaining functional but cautious in the face of rising US Treasury yields, said bankers.

In one of the first pieces of public research on the nascent direct lending asset class in Europe, a report from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School has found that it could grow assets under management by as much as 50% in the medium term, owing to banks retreating from the mid-market and investors looking for higher yields from credit.

WH Smith, the UK high street retailer, has extended its bank term credit lines and cancelled a crisis liquidity facility, as the borrower posted better than expected trading figures since the start of the year.

Carpet and tile company Victoria returned to the bond market for its second outing in a month, raising another €250m of debt in a drive-by. Unlike its February issue, however, the new cash will mostly be used to push out its maturities, being earmarked to pay down its 2024s at a punchy make-whole spread of 50bp over Bunds.

China’s Guangdong Lingyi iTech Manufacturing Co, a company focused on making magnetic materials, electric motors and electric wires for automobiles, computers and mobile phones, has hit the market for a $150m loan.

Lone Star is refinancing and pricing the debt incurred for its buyout of BASF Construction Chemicals, one of the bridges hung during the first peak of the Covid crisis a year ago. The original deal required creativity to cross the line, plus a hefty private placement with GSO. Now, however, it looks set to slice up to 100bp off the euro margin, and more from the GSO deal.

Real estate developer China Aoyuan Group has closed a $225m-equivalent dual currency loan with nine banks in the syndicate.

After a couple of weeks of sluggish issuance during earnings season, there were three new European high yield bond mandates on Monday, including an innovative sustainability-linked issue from Greece’s Public Power Corporation — a step forward for the structure, which has been slow to catch on in the HY market.

Aluminium producer China Hongqiao Group has returned to the loan market for a $200m borrowing.