The Royal Bank of Scotland nabbed the lead role on the financing for the $17.4 billion acquisition of Albertson's by SUPERVALU, CVS and Cerberus Capital Management. The large deal was a welcome addition to the market; one investor who committed said he heard investors liked the deal and that the bank had already filled the book late Thursday, just two days after syndication launched. Calls to an RBS banker were not returned.
The financing consists of a $2 billion term loan, a $2 billion revolver, a $1.25 billion term loan "A" and a $750 million term loan "B." Pricing was LIBOR plus 1 1/2% on the pro rata and LIBOR plus 1 3/4% on the institutional term loan.
The bank had previously gone out to senior managing agents about a month ago. Bank of America, Citigroup and Rabobank are syndication agents. One banker, who is not a lead, said a number of farm credit banks are also playing in the credit.
SUPERVALU, CVS and Cerberus reached an agreement to acquire key retail operations of Albertson's in January. The investment group and Albertson's had been in discussion late last year, but terminated them in December. At the end of January, the group resumed discussions. Calls to spokespeople at SUPERVALU, CVS and Cerberus were not returned by press time.