Loans and High Yield

Glenveagh Properties, the Irish house builder, has signed a €250m bank line to refinance debt due in April, adding to its lending group in the process.

HIG Capital has hired a managing director from Houlihan Lokey for its European direct lending platform.

Mining giant Vedanta Resources was back in the debt market on Thursday with a $1.2bn trade, giving further comfort to investors that it has not abandoned its plans to clean up its corporate structure.

Two Chinese property companies seized the market window on Thursday to raise a combined $802m from the bond market.

After a poll of market participants at the end of 2020, GlobalCapital can now reveal the winners of its annual Syndicated Loan and Leveraged Finance Awards. GlobalCapital can also reveal the winners of the Private Debt Awards. Regrettably, we still cannot celebrate the awards with you in person, but we congratulate all the winners and nominees in this exceptionally challenging year.

Banks and investors’ claims to be acting on climate change appear to clash with the financing they still provide in the real economy, research showed this week — such as plans to increase fossil fuel production and consumption, even in the UK and France.

Look at any bank’s website or hear its CEO speak and you will get a torrent of virtuous words about climate change, sustainability and supporting clients on their journeys to net zero. The same goes for big investors, from BlackRock down, but the windows of their ivory towers are misted up with all the hot air being spouted.

High yield market darling Ardagh has joined in with the SPAC fever sweeping capital markets, announcing on Tuesday the merger of its drinks can business with a SPAC sponsored by billionaire Alec Gores. The combined business wasted no time in launching the debt finance for the deal, with a $2.3bn-equivalent four tranche green bond following on Thursday.

Aston Martin has launched a £70m-equivalent tap of its $1.085bn 10.5% notes, which have been trading more than nine points higher than when they were priced last year in the teeth of market volatility leading into the US presidential election.

Private equity firm Blackstone has launched into syndication a $360m loan that will support its leveraged buyout of India’s Piramal Glass.

Philippines’ SMC Global Power Holdings, the power unit of conglomerate San Miguel Corp, has returned to the loan market for $200m.

Guangzhou R&F Properties Co made a rapid return to the debt market this week for a $325m bond that proved popular with investors in the primary and secondary markets.