Top stories

• Barry Callebaut plumps for safer Schuldschein, reaps big harvest

  

  Barry Callebaut has taken €600m across three tranches in one of the biggest international Schuldschein transactions in the last 12 months. The Belgian-French chocolate company now based in Switzerland had roadshowed for a public benchmark sustainable bond in November, but opted instead for its first Schuldschein deal, as the risks of execution in the public market were too great.

  • 13 Feb 2019

• First test for levloans as Amer and Ahlsell target euros

  Banks met on Tuesday for the first sizeable new money European leveraged loan of 2019: a €1.7bn acquisition loan funding the purchase of Finnish sports equipment company Amer Sports. CVC’s take-private of Swedish installation products maker Ahlsell then hit the market on Wednesday.

  • 13 Feb 2019

• Chinese banks will go where the West fears to tread

  

  Chinese state banks take a lot of criticism for the amount of lending they do in Africa. But what the detractors fail to acknowledge is the lack of competition from Western banks, especially from US houses. As borrowing needs across Africa grow, the question must be asked: if the Chinese banks don't lend to Africa, which ones in the West will?

  • 12 Feb 2019

• Germany holds the power to send ESG loans soaring

  

  German borrowers are finally warming to the idea of taking out loans linked to environmental, sustainable and governance (ESG) targets, and a confluence of complementary factors could serve to strap a rocket to deal volumes.

  • 12 Feb 2019

• Ramirent eyes growth with loan refi

  

  Finland’s Ramirent has signed a €185m syndicated loan, early refinancing and increasing the amount of an existing loan as the construction equipment rental company looks to grow after a year of asset sales.

  • 13 Feb 2019

• Sixt enters Schuldschein for second time in six months

  

  German car leasing company Sixt has launched a Schuldschein with an initial size of €200m, according to two Schuldschein market participants.

  • 13 Feb 2019

• Debenhams strikes rescue refi deal

  

  UK department store chain Debenhams has agreed a refinancing with its existing lenders, giving it an extra 12 months and an extra £40m of headroom, along with certain covenant waivers — but the race is on for a full recapitalisation by the end of the second quarter.

  • 12 Feb 2019

• Green knowledge is not an efficient market

  

  Biofuels have swollen thanks to policies to combat climate change — even though often, they do not help the problem and can make it worse. This is a shocking record, born of ignorance, both accidental and wilful.

  • 12 Feb 2019

• Highgate joins ranks of private schools to enter US PP market

  

  Highgate School is marketing a US private placement (US PP), according to two US PP players. The market has become a home for private and public schools looking for long term financing.

  • 12 Feb 2019

• Railpool raises debt amid German awakening to green loans

  

  Germany’s Railpool has signed green financing totalling more than €800m, as loans bankers say sustainability-linked facilities are becoming more popular with German borrowers after largely being ignored until now.

  • 11 Feb 2019

• Glatfelter switches dollar for euro debt

  

  The US’s Glatfelter has signed $648m-equivalent in revolving and term loans, with the specialty paper company planning to use the euro portion to buy back bonds.

  • 12 Feb 2019

• Loan market gears up after slow start to year

  

  An influx of RFPs and mandates is keeping loan bankers busy as they try to overcome the global downturn of activity in 2018.

  • 11 Feb 2019

• Cork popped on Searcy’s acquisition loan

  

  Banks have started marketing the sterling loan to fund the acquisition of a stake in Westbury Street Holdings, the parent company of Searcy’s champagne bars and Benugo coffee bars, with a £363m seven year term loan and a £91m eight year second lien on offer.

  • 11 Feb 2019

• Cadent Gas opts for US PPs

  

  Cadent Gas has entered the US private placement (US PP) market via Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Lloyds, according to market participants.

  • 11 Feb 2019

• ICG enters US PP market

  

  Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) has launched a $150m US private placement, according to two US PP participants.

  • 11 Feb 2019

• Akbank launches refi as market splits over Turkey outlook

  

  Akbank is kicking off the first set of refinancings of the year for Turkish banks, launching its syndication with a smaller volume and tighter margins than last year’s deal. But lenders are divided on whether the deal represents an achievement for the Turkish bank, or betrays an outlook festooned with risk. Mariam Meskin reports.

  • 08 Feb 2019

• Banks and investors ignoring biofuel risks to climate

  

  The harmful climatic effects of biofuels, which policymakers have long promoted as a solution to climate change, are increasingly being pointed out, although the financial industry remains largely unaware of them. A report by ShareAction has highlighted the risks investors and banks are running by financing the burning of wood as a fuel.

  • 08 Feb 2019

• Stella hits home stretch

  

  A loan for Stella, a French shutter and grill manufacturer, is set to be allocated on Friday, with the deal oversubscribed at original guidance on Thursday afternoon, wrapping up another project shelved in the face of last year’s deteriorating market.

  • 07 Feb 2019

• US PP players weigh up sectoral difficulties after Interserve stumbles

  

  US private placement (US PP) investors are considering whether the UK's support services industry is worth the risk after Interserve was forced into a debt for equity swap, with the dust still to settle on Carilion’s liquidation. Silas Brown reports.

  • 07 Feb 2019

• JP Morgan looks to burnish jewel in the crown

  

  JP Morgan has overhauled its European management team as it places its oldest franchise at the heart of a push to boost its UK M&A business.

  • 07 Feb 2019

• First Derivatives signs £130m loan at tighter margin

  

  First Derivatives, a UK technology company, has signed £130m of bank facilities, earmarking some of the funds to refinance an acquisition agreed last summer.

  • 06 Feb 2019

• Here Tech signs loan as Feb starts more brightly than Jan

  

  Here Technologies, the Dutch provider of mapping and location services, has signed a €500m credit facility. Some European loans bankers insist they are swamped with deals, even though they have just finished the quietest January for years.

  • 06 Feb 2019

• Green loans: a tricky rise to the top?

  

  As climate change climbs the agenda, banks are finding themselves under increasing pressure to bolster their commitments to social responsibility. That is helping green loans take off in the Middle East and Africa — slowly. Some bankers are confident that banks will see the importance of sustainable financing, but others are unconvinced, pointing to a range of obstacles.

  • 05 Feb 2019

• Roll-up fears unfounded as IVC hits tight end

  

  Concerns about a rapid debt-fuelled acquisition spree by UK and European veterinary group IVC left some investors reluctant to subscribe for its loans, particularly after a profit warning from another group in the sector. But fears proved unfounded as the deal was allocated at the tight end of guidance by Thursday.

  • 05 Feb 2019

• Former head of Lloyds loan markets moves on

  

  Lloyds Bank's former head of loan markets, who subsequently became its global head of industrials and manufacturing, has left the bank.

  • 05 Feb 2019