Financing in brief top news 3

Pricing on leisure park operator Centre Parks’ £240m debt package backing Blackstone’s buyout of the company has been flexed down and the structure tweaked after a heavy oversubscription, via mandated lead arranger Barclays. Pricing on the A tranche has been cut 12.5bp, while margins on the B and C tranche have been lowered 25bp. Some £20m has been taken off the second lien debt and added equally to the B and C tranches. Post-flex, senior debt comprises a £25m seven-year A loan at 212.5bp, a £57.5m eight-year B loan at 250bp, a £57.5m B loan at 300bp, a £25m seven-year revolving credit facility and a £35m capex facility both at 225bp. There is a nine-and-a-half-year £30m second lien piece at 5%. Leverage on the senior is 3.5x net debt to Ebitda and total leverage is 4.5x net debt to Ebitda. Two tickets were offered: £17.5m paying 75bp and £12.5m at 65bp. Center Parcs opened its first holiday village at Sherwood Forest in July 1987, it now operates four villages in the UK each offering accommodation and a range of sports and leisure activities.

  • Lenders have accepted the pricing and structural flex to the €3.65bn loan package backing Babcock & Brown’s led buyout of Eircom. Mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort and JPMorgan.

The request sees the €200m second lien tranche increased to €350m at the expense of the FRN, which is now priced. In addition the margin on the second lien is decreased by 50bp to 425bp over Libor, while the margins on the B and C tranches on the €3.3bn senior secured loan are to be cut by 12.5bp and 25bp respectively. With the new structure now in place the leads will allocate the deal over the next week. The changes mean the senior secured tranches are split between a €653m seven-year term loan A paying 200bp over Euribor, a €1.25bn eight-year term loan B at 237.5bp over Libor, a €1.25bn nine-year term loan at 275bp and a €150m revolver. In syndication bank lenders were invited on €75m for 95bp, €50m for 75bp or €25m for 55bp.

  • Tommy Hilfiger has closed syndication of its €1.115bn loan backing its LBO by Apax Partners. Bookrunners are Credit Suisse and Citigroup, with Fortis Bank as mandated lead arranger. The deal closed successfully on every tranche although the bank piece did struggle slightly in the beginning. The loan is structured as a €190m seven-year term loan A at 225bp over Euribor, a €250m eight-year term loan B at 275bp, a €250m nine-year term loan C at 325bp, a €250m seven-year revolver at 225bp, a €75m seven-year restructuring facility at 225bp and a €100m ten-year mezzanine tranche paying 450bp cash and 550bp PIK. Tickets of €50m for a fee of 90bp, €35m for 75bp and €20m for 60bp were offered.