| Adam Suttin |
GE Capital is in the market with a pro rata refinancing for J.W. Childs Associates portfolio company The NutraSweet Co. The deal comprises a $30 million revolver and $57.5 million "A" loan. Both tranches are being offered at LIBOR plus 4%. The new deal is refinancing senior debt led by Deutsche Bank that backed J.W. Child's purchase of the company in 2000. The original facility was a large first lien and a relatively small second lien, according to Adam Suttin, a partner with J.W. Childs. The company currently has a $20 million revolver and $71 million of term loan debt. "At this point almost 100% of the first-lien debt has been repaid and therefore the pricing is driven by the second-lien debt," Suttin said. "Since the first-lien debt was repaid early we ended up having a capital structure that was weighted towards second-lien debt and therefore the refinancing was an obvious thing to do. So now we're putting it all on a pari passu to lower the cost as opposed to having two tranches."
GE previously had a lending relationship with the company on a lease facility for capital expenditures. "They approached us on the refinancing given that they had contact with the company," Suttin said. "We did talk to a few other parties but GE had the best proposal for us." The facility is moving more towards a crossover between an asset-based and cashflow loan, he noted. "Given the size of the new facility--it's not something Deutsche Bank will play a role in," Suttin added. GE bankers and James Stanley, NutraSweet's cfo, declined comment. A Deutsche Bank spokesman did not return calls.