Four new issues traded above par last week as investor demand drove the secondary market higher. Piedmont Hawthorne's $147 million first-lien traded in the 100 3/4-101 3/8 range and R.H. Donnelley Corp.'s "A" and "B" loans allocated at the 100 3/8-100 3/4 and 101 1/8-101 3/8 levels, respectively. FairPoint Communications' $400 million "B" loan broke at the start of last week in the 100 1/2-101 context and then traded up to the 100 3/4-101 1/4 level. Finally, Entravision Communications Corp.'s $250 million "B" loan allocated and traded in the 100 1/2-100 3/4 range.
Meanwhile, activity was registered in other recent new deals.PanAmSat's $1.66 billion "B" loan moved up to the 100 1/8-100 1/4 context up from 100-100 1/8. A trader said the improvement could not be attributed to any technical reason. "The whole market is better," he noted. "People are looking for paper," he noted. Rainbow Media' s $600 million "B" loan, led by Bank of America and J.P. Morgan, changed hands a few times in the 101 1/8-101 3/8 context, a trader said.
Donnelley's "A" and "B" pieces have a spread of LIBOR plus 2 1/4% and LIBOR plus 2%, respectively. This deal is led by J.P. Morgan and Bear Stearns. Deutsche Bank is administrative agent (LMW, 8/9). Lehman Brothers and Citibank lead Piedmont's first-lien, which has a LIBOR plus 2 1/2% spread. FairPoint's deal is led by Deutsche Bank and Entravision's loan is led by Goldman Sachs and Union Bank of California. FairPoint's "B" loan and revolver are priced at LIBOR plus 3 1/4% and LIBOR plus 3 1/2%, respectively. A Charter investor relations official and spokespeople for FairPoint, PanAmSat and Rainbow Media, did not return calls.