Loans and High Yield

The coronavirus has smashed the usual hierarchy of companies, large and small, creating new winners — and many losers. While 2020 was about finding ways to keep their financial lifeblood flowing, in 2021, more permanent solutions will need to be found. This will include bond funding for those still shut out — and M&A. Mike Turner reports.

There could be more large restructurings in Europe in 2021 than ever before, as companies seek sustainable capital structures after 2020’s rash of emergency financing. But it’s also a new horizon for the laws that govern restructuring, as countries replace a patchwork of dated and difficult insolvency regimes, and the UK exits the European Union, ending automatic recognition of its court rulings. Owen Sanderson reports.

Corporate finance in 2020 was utterly without precedent. Never before had so many once-stable firms seen revenues evaporate instantly, with so little visibility on when the world might recover. Companies did whatever they could to hang on, pulling every lever available to source scarce cash. As 2021 begins, so will a new phase, where the fallout of the Covid rescue playbook becomes clear. Owen Sanderson reports.

This year proved to be one of the most dramatic on record for corporate financiers as volumes rose from the ashes of the market sell-off. David Rothnie examines some of the themes that defined the year and looks ahead to 2021.

Hot capital markets emphatically supported Casino's opportunistic refinancing this week, a deal that catapulted the troubled supermarket group back into the leveraged credit mainstream. Traditional investors and specialist hedge funds combined to allow lead banks to price the dual tranche deal through the undisturbed levels of Casino’s outstanding debt. Owen Sanderson reports.

Credit Suisse has hired Deutsche Bank’s head of corporate broking to bolster its senior UK investment banking team.

Dollar bond sales from India have seen a last minute pick-up before the year-end, with three firms pricing their deals in the past week. Indian companies, like the rest of the region, faced hurdles in accessing offshore funding this year, but bankers are optimistic about 2021. Morgan Davis reports.

Nick Jansa, former co-head of corporate finance EMEA and co-head of leveraged debt capital markets at Deutsche Bank, is joining Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board as senior managing director in EMEA, running investment activities and portfolio management in the region.

Patrick Drahi has raised his offer to take Altice Europe private, responding to legal challenges by hedge funds including Lucerne Capital Management. The revised bid increases the company’s valuation by almost €1bn, and translates to paying minority shareholders an extra €700m — meaning yet more debt piled on one of Europe’s largest levfin issuers, which has more than €30bn outstanding already.

Travelodge privately placed £65m of 9% four year bonds at 96, according to a statement from the issuer, following Lowell’s similar decision to tap into a firm market ahead of year-end. Shareholders Avenue Capital and GoldenTree are experienced distressed investors, actively seeking other companies wanting to raise cash at double-digit yields, but have opted for third-party money this time.

Shandong Ruyi Technology Group Co’s dollar bonds fell to a new low this week after it defaulted on two onshore trades, adding to a spate of missed payments from Chinese companies recently.

Gaming company Wynn Macau benefitted from a revival in sentiment around the casino industry for its bond return on Tuesday. It raised $750m from a tap of its 5.625% 2028 notes.