The loans and loan-only credit default swaps of Freescale Semiconductor were active last week as yet another credit is expected to have its spread tightened 25 basis points to LIBOR plus 1 3/4%. Citigroup is leading the repricing. The LCDS tightened about 10 basis points to trade around 80-85 in the wake of the move. The $3.5 billion term loan was about 1/8 of a point off last Wednesday from the day before, trading around par 5/8-7/8. The term loan broke in the secondary in December at 100 3/8-5/8 (CIN, 12/4).
The loans came to market last fall to back the leveraged buyout of the company by a group of investors including The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group, Permira Funds and Texas Pacific Group (11/13). A call to Alan Campbell, senior v.p. and cfo, was not returned.
The LCDS for Advanced Micro Devices, another name in the space, was also about five basis points tighter this week trading between 89-95. Morgan Stanley brought a $2.5 billion deal for AMD to market in October (10/9).