Loans and High Yield

Blount International, the US farm and forestry equipment manufacturer, joined in this week’s trend of widening prices in a leveraged loans market where demand is hard to find.

Geely Automobile Holdings is laying the groundwork for a dollar-denominated green bond that is expected to launch in the middle of the year.

Norske Skog, the Norwegian producer of publishing paper, has told GlobalCapital that its plan to ensure its long term funding is going ahead, although Moody’s has warned of a default looming.

Western Digital, the US maker of computer hard drives, has widened pricing on its $9.5bn loan package to entice reluctant lenders. The loan will back Western Digital’s $17bn acquisition of SanDisk.

The strong conditions since the European Central Bank kick-started corporate bond markets on March 10 are still ready and waiting for issuers but the bombastic deal flow that defined the month thus far has slowed, with concern persistent among some higher risk players.

A $300m dual-tranche loan for a subsidiary of palm oil producer Golden-Agri Resources has wrapped up with just two new banks coming in.

Bankers and investors agreed that the leveraged loan market is set to fill the void of new issuance in European leveraged finance until mid-April, as the levfin pipeline builds after the Easter break.

The Spanish engineering and green energy firm Abengoa is set to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its US affiliates, after 75% of its lenders signed a standstill agreement.

Oil and gas company KrisEnergy has extended a $111m revolver by one year, according to a release last Friday.

Indonesian gas-to-power specialist MAXpower Group is looking to rejig terms on a $222m five year syndicated loan sealed in 2015.

After a bruising first quarter, the European high yield market is seeing some encouraging data as market participants hope for a pick-up in issuance after the Easter holidays.

Four lenders are close to being mandated for a $400m fundraising for Maybank, according to sources.