Loans and High Yield

Banks launched the first leg of the buyout package for Hillhouse Capital’s purchase of Philips Domestic Appliances on Tuesday, readying an €850m seven year term loan, with bonds to follow.

Two Chinese real estate borrowers, Agile Group Holdings and Datang Group Holdings, hit the dollar debt market on Monday.

Cambodia’s Acleda Bank has returned to the loan market after a three-year absence, and is testing lenders’ appetite for three different deals simultaneously.

Vietnam’s VNDirect Securities Corp has tapped the offshore loan market for the first time for a $50m borrowing.

Tottenham Hotspur FC has raised a further £250m of US private placements, to pay off Bank of England loans signed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hong Kong property company New World Development Co sold a perpetual bond this week, raising $1.2bn to fund a tender offer for a fixed-for-life deal.

Times China Holdings, Yango Group and Greenland Hong Kong Holdings, all of which are real estate developers, raised $840m between them from the bond market on Thursday, continuing a recent revival in issuance from the sector.

Investment firm China Renaissance Holdings has closed its debut offshore borrowing of $300m.

Direct lenders are brandishing low levels of default rates through the coronavirus pandemic as proof of the resilience of the asset class, and are using this track record to attract more investors. But not all funds are equal, and now potential LPs can scrutinise the performance of funds through a full credit cycle and allocate accordingly.

Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group, which tapped the loan market for a $7.2bn bridge loan last year to acquire retail giant Tesco’s Asia business, is now seeking covenant waivers on the fundraising. The move — which bankers say is triggered in part by CP’s plan to offload some of its newly-gained stake in Tesco — has hurt lenders’ confidence in the Thai conglomerate and raised questions around its strategy. Pan Yue reports.

Adler Pelzer has finally priced a €75m mirror note, replicating the terms of its 4.125% 2024s, with BNP Paribas as sole global co-ordinator. JP Morgan, the original gloco, first announced the deal two weeks earlier, an extraordinarily long syndication process for a tiny bond from an established issuer — and an indication, alongside the eventual 92.50 price, that selling the issue was a challenge.

Zhongyu Gas Holdings, a Hong-Kong listed natural gas distribution company, pulled its debut dollar bond on Tuesday evening after setting final guidance, leading some away from the trade to speculate that an aggressive pricing approach scuppered the deal. But its hiccup didn’t deter other issuers from hitting the market. Morgan Davis reports.