Scotia Capital, Salomon Smith Barney and Bank of America have closed the book on Levi Strauss & Co.'s $400 million "B" piece which was oversubscribed by a significant amount, said a banker familiar with the deal. The institutional piece was sold at 991/ 2. He was unable to say by how much the deal was oversubscribed. Pricing did not change on the $800 million debt package. The pricing is still set at LIBOR plus 4% for the term loan and LIBOR plus 31/ 2% on the $400 million revolver. The deal refinances Levi Strauss' B1-rated, $1.05 billion facility with the three banks that was to mature in August of this year. Credit Suisse First Boston, FleetBoston Financial and J.P. Morgan have committed to the revolver. Scotia and B of A officials declined to comment, while a Salomon official could not be reached by press time.
An investor said that market players were waiting for Levi Strauss' fourth quarter 2002 numbers, released Jan. 13, to come out before buying into the deal (LMW, 1/13). The company continues to post lower profits, but the banker stated that the figures were still viewed positively by investors. Sales rose 2% from the year earlier. Last week, the company also upsized by $100 million its 121/ 4% senior notes due 2012 to a total of $525 million. Levi Strauss also sold an additional $50 million in notes of the same kind to AIG Global Investment. Officials at Levi Strauss could not be reached by press time.