Loans and High Yield

Italian ferry operator Onorato Armatori on Friday sold €300m of secured notes as investors backed its plans for a new financial structure.

Worldwide Flight Services, the French cargo and luggage handling company, on Friday sold a €100m tap of its 2021 bond and €140m of triple C rated notes to support its purchase of US peer Consolidated Aviation Services.

The European Central Bank will publish its leveraged lending guidelines in the next three to six months, firming up the informal guidance it sends to banks directly.

Kion, the Ba2/BB+ rated German industrial truck manufacturer, has agreed a €1.5bn refinancing facility with 'investment grade style features' through a club deal with 13 relationship banks.

ArcelorMittal on Friday announced the sale for €875m of its 35% stake in the Spanish car parts supplier Gestamp Automoción to the Riberas family, who are yet to disclose details of how they will finance the purchase.

One more bank has joined the top group for a loan for Tata Power subsidiary Bhira Investments. The borrower had initially shortlisted six lenders for the facility to refinance a $460m loan it wrapped up in October 2014.

Standard & Poor’s has downgraded Chinese mall developer Renhe Commercial Holdings to CCC- on Friday with the rating agency casting doubt over the company’s ability to repay a bond due in March.

Credit Suisse’s numbers were ugly, whichever way you slice them — a loss of Sfr6.4bn ($6.44bn), shares down 11%, bonuses down 36%. Even after “adjustments”, the bank still lost Sfr420m in its core businesses.

Green shoots began to appear in Europe's high yield market this week after a dire start to the year, with less than €1bn of issuance in January. Five deals were marketed, two of which were priced, but bankers will not be sure the market is reviving until LeasePlan brings the first big deal, writes Victor Jimenez.

The prospect of a huge financing package to back ChemChina’s $43bn acquisition of Syngenta has left bankers guessing how the two banks arranging the funding are going to structure and distribute the debt, especially as the lenders are working under separate mandates. Despite their size, the loans are expected to be well supported thanks to abundant liquidity in Europe and the target’s strong credentials, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

European leveraged loan bankers and investors had a chance to sit back and take stock of the market this week, as no deals were launched, after 20 arrived in a surprisingly busy January.

Two acquisition financings are due to hit general syndication after Chinese New Year. One is a loan for Baring Private Equity Asia’s acquisition of HCP Global, and the other is for Singha Asia, which is buying stakes in two companies from Vietnam’s Masan through the issue of new capital.