Loans and High Yield

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.

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.

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.

Guandong Haid Group Co and Shenzhen Yuto Packaging Technology Co are both making their debuts in the loan market.

A group of nine issuers from Asia sold green or sustainability dollar bonds this week, propelling volumes to new highs. A large part of the debt business in the region is still focused on green and the environment, but there is growing urgency to pay more attention to governance standards. Morgan Davis reports.

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. The deal was priced late Thursday at the tight end of the range.

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.

The rapid pace of new dollar bond issuance from Chinese property companies continued from Monday into Tuesday as four more borrowers joined the fray.

Philippine company Vista Land & Lifescapes bagged $170m from a tap of its 2027 notes this week.

Chinese conglomerate Fosun International has sold its second dollar bond of 2021, raising $500m once again.

China Water Affairs Group has made a rare outing in the debt market for a $200m green bond.

Four Chinese property companies rushed into the dollar bond market on Monday, following weeks of limited to no supply from the sector.