Financing In brief

-
  • Barclays has been mandated to arrange the debt backing Candover and Cinven’s bid for UK academic publisher Informa, which is worth around £2bn. Speculation is that, if successful, the sponsors would merger Informa with their other key publishing asset, Springer.
  • MTU Friedrichshafen is in the market with an amendment to the €1.17bn debt that backed EQT’s buyout of the company in May. Deutsche Bank and Barclays are MLAs. The amendment, which pays no fee, asks lenders to permit the sponsor to take a €200m dividend and substantially cut senior debt pricing. If the amendment is granted, the all senior structure would comprises a €190m seven-year term loan A paying 125bp over Euribor, a €285m eight-year term loan B at 200bp, a €285m nine-year term loan C at 225bp, a €350m seven-year revolver at 225bp and a €60m capex facility paying 255bp. Leverage on the deal is just 2x total net debt to Ebitda.
  • Igloo Birds Eye Frozen Foods has had a good start in syndicating its €1.475bn deal, currently in the market through bookrunners Calyon, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. The books for the PIK, mezzanine and institutional portions of the first-lien debt were all fully subscribed just two days after the bank meeting. The loan package comprises a €182.5m seven-year term loan A at 212.5bp, a €335m eight-year term loan B at 250bp, a €335m nine-year term loan C at 300bp, a €175m seven-year revolver at 212.5bp, a €72.5m 9-1/2 year second-lien tranche at 475bp, a €275m 10-year mezzanine facility paying 4.5% cash and 4.75% PIK, and a €100m 10-1/2 year junior mezzanine piece, for which pricing has not been disclosed. The deal features a 60% fund carve-out on the B and C tranches. Tickets on offer are for arrangers on €40m for a fee of 85bp and co-arrangers on €20m commitments for a fee of 70bp. Bank of Ireland, Caja Madrid, Rabobank, SG and SMBC joined as JLAs on sub-underwriting tickets of €100m of the senior debt. Igloo Birds Eye is the former frozen foods arm of Unilever. Permira acquired the business earlier this year.
  • Italian coffee machine maker Saeco International has launched its €562m recapitalisation to general syndication, through bookrunnerBNP Paribas. Banca Intesa, UBM, Interbanca and Rabobank joined as MLAs in the first phase of the deal and IKB has also joined as a JLA. The deal is a recap of an earlier €405m debt package that backed PAI’s take-private of Saeco, which closed in 2004 through BNP Paribas and JPMorgan.