Loans and High Yield

Monday saw a flurry of new high yield financings launched, including one market debut, the €1.25bn buy-out package for BC Partners’ takeover of Italian machinery maker Industria Macchine Automatiche (IMA). Also launched on Monday were VodafoneZiggo’s green debut (see separate story), a refi for debt purchaser Encore Capital, and a sterling deal for Ford.

CVC Credit Partners has hired two partners to join its private credit team, one of which will be co-head of private credit.

Whether or not Schuldschein debt is deliverable under CDS auctions is becoming more than an academic discussion, as analysts look to companies like travel firm Tui’s financial future. While the instrument fits the criteria as relevant debt for a CDS auction, the private nature of the contract could prevent the Determinations Committee from ruling.

VodafoneZiggo has launched its debut green bond, a major step forward for the high yield market, which has lagged behind other fixed income asset classes in adopting labels such as ‘green’, ‘social’ or ‘transition’. Liberty Global, which owns 50% of the Dutch telco, is one of the largest sponsors in European leveraged finance, and leadership from this quarter could kickstart a broader growth in labelled HY debt.

Jinan Lixia Holding Group Co came to the dollar bond market at the end of last week, bagging $300m from a three year deal.

This week in Keeping Tabs: attractive credit picks, physical shops adapting to online retail and a new drama about investment banking.

The European Union’s Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities, the cornerstone of its action on sustainable finance, looks set to bless several technologies such as biofuels and hydroelectric power that are not just environmentally questionable but actively harmful, as a result of lobbying by vested interests.

Almost half of members who responded to a Loan Market Association survey expect syndicated volumes in EMEA to increase in 2021, as optimism builds around the effect of Covid-19 vaccines.

E-House (China) Enterprise Holdings was the only issuer in the dollar bond market in Asia on Thursday, raising $200m.

Indonesian textile products manufacturer Sri Rejeki Isman, better known as Sritex, is planning to extend a dollar loan closed in 2019 by two years.

Travel company Tui announced its third bailout package since March on Wednesday, adding a substantial equity cheque to more state-backed debt, as troubled companies shift their focus from emergency cash to stable capital structures. A sharp rally in the company’s shares helped firm up the rescue package, but some questioned whether the new money will be enough.

Webuild, the Italian construction company formerly known as Salini Impregilo, has launched a refinancing of its €600m 2021 bond, after finally completing the takeover of stricken competitor Astaldi at the beginning of last month. The new tender offer is intended to finish a refi attempt started in January, which received lacklustre take-up.