Leveraged Loans

  • Virgin Active judgement could push CVAs into obscurity

    Virgin Active judgement could push CVAs into obscurity

    The UK's High Court delivered a ringing endorsement of the country's new restructuring regime this week in a landmark ruling on gym chain Virgin Active, showing that companies have a new route other than CVAs to cut their debts to landlords. Silas Brown and Owen Sanderson report.

    13 May 2021
  • Mehiläinen boosts refi size to roll up existing debt

    Mehiläinen boosts refi size to roll up existing debt

    Finnish healthcare provider Mehiläinen increased the size of its ESG-linked refi loan from €300m to €1.06bn, refinancing not just the second lien loan, as originally intended, but the company’s entire first lien capital structure. Leads HSBC and Jefferies also tightened the margin range from launch levels.

    13 May 2021
  • New restructuring law is a step forward

    New restructuring law is a step forward

    Commercial landlords in the UK are angry about gym chain Virgin Active’s restructuring plan, and with good reason. Many of them have lost out heavily, while senior secured creditors got away with little more than an amend and extend.

    13 May 2021
  • Lenders push back on Cerba's ESG conditions

    Lenders push back on Cerba's ESG conditions

    Diagnostics firm Cerba Healthcare has made the key performance indicators on its sustainability-linked loan more ambitious after talks with leveraged loan investors on its financing for its buyout by Swedish private equity firm EQT.

    12 May 2021
  • Judge backs Virgin Active’s precedent-setting restructuring scheme

    Judge backs Virgin Active’s precedent-setting restructuring scheme

    UK courts have endorsed gym chain Virgin Active’s restructuring plan, a precedent-setting move which shows that the UK’s new restructuring law with its ‘cross-class cramdown’ feature can be used instead of a CVA to cut debts to landlords. Some claim it represents a further attack on already-struggling landlords, but others argue than having all creditors share the pain at the outset should mean better recoveries if other chains follow this approach.

    12 May 2021
  • Jacquet Metal Service leads SSD revival

    Jacquet Metal Service leads SSD revival

    French steel parts and distribution company Jacquet Metal Service has launched a further Schuldschein, according to sources. The market is gearing up for somewhat of a renaissance after a moribund 2020 and GlobalCapital understands that 10-15 more transactions are set to be launched in May.

    07 May 2021
  • Swan song for hung bridges as Golden Goose readies bonds

    Swan song for hung bridges as Golden Goose readies bonds

    Golden Goose, the Italian shoemaker bought by Permira just before the coronavirus pandemic struck Europe, is looking for €470m of senior secured bonds in what may be the last repayment of a bridge facility signed before Covid. Hung bridges for leveraged buyouts were a serious concern for banks at the height of the pandemic but due to governments and central banks supporting the financial markets, lenders sold down the positions successfully — mostly much earlier than Golden Goose, writes Silas Brown.

    06 May 2021
  • Allied bid backers to split $100m fees as G4S debt package lands

    Allied bid backers to split $100m fees as G4S debt package lands

    Banks backing the successful Allied Universal bid for UK security company G4S are set to split around $100m in financing fees for backing the deal, with Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley in line for the lion’s share of the profits, as the $6.3bn eight tranche syndication is priced and the firm is delisted.

    06 May 2021
  • BofA launches UK private capital push with Goldman hire

    BofA launches UK private capital push with Goldman hire

    Bank of America has hired a managing director from Goldman Sachs to help lead a new team in its UK investment banking division that aims to increase the bank’s coverage of private and emerging growth companies.

    04 May 2021
Leveraged loans news archive