Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley have added a $250 million second-lien “C” loan to the EUR1 billion credit facility backing The Blackstone Group’s EUR3.1 billion acquisition of Celanese. Strong demand for the bank paper influenced the leads in bringing the new tranche, a banker said. The EUR500 million “B” loan was more than two times oversubscribed and growing, he added. Around the time of launch a buysider commented that it would not be surprising to see the senior debt increased (LMW, 5/17). The new tranche is being done on a second-lien basis because demand was so heavy on the first and the company had more capacity to add bank debt, the banker noted. The pricing on the facility has not yet been determined and will be relative to the subordinated notes due to price next week. Reportedly, the bonds backing the Celanese acquisition have been downsized to $1.315 billion from $1.565 billion.
Leverage is around 1.4 times through the second lien and is one turn through the first. The facility also includes a EUR312.5 million revolver and EUR187.5 million letter of credit facility, which both went out to investors at LIBOR plus 2 1/2%. The EUR500 million “B” loan launched at LIBOR plus 2 3/4%. Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley bankers either did not return calls or declined comment.