In brief

• DIC-owned Almatis has hired Close Brothers to advise on managing its US$1bn debt burden, Rothschild is advising a group of senior lenders and KPMG has been brought in to do due diligence on the company. Banks are understood to have been asked to agree a standstill as a preliminary to wider-ranging discussions. The buyout of Almatis was among the handful of syndications to close in the second half of 2007, making it among the first post-boom European LBO structures, notable for the large equity contribution from DIC. UBS arranged the US$1bn of senior and mezzanine debt backing the deal. Germany-based Almatis is a leading producer of specialist alumina materials used in industry.

• A sale process to find buyers for IMO Carwash is ongoing. Senior lenders are understood to have prepared their own bid vehicle in a demonstration of their willingness to take the keys if no alternative is found and their determination to set a price floor for the group. Mezzanine lenders are understood to be considering their own bid. Rothschild is managing the sale process. In April, lenders rejected a restructuring proposal from Carlyle and proposed a deal structured around extending new senior and junior debt to the company, while taking a 31% haircut. IMO debt was widely traded in the secondary market and distressed debt funds are understood to hold a majority of outstanding senior facilities. Any acquisition is likely to be executed through enforcement by senior lenders rather than a consensual restructuring.

• Lenders to German roofing materials maker Monier have yet to see a fully worked out restructuring proposal from a consortium of distressed debt investors Apollo, Towerbrook and York Capital, according to people involved in the deal. A proposal had been expected last week from the group, which is challenging an effort by incumbent sponsor PAI to buy back the business through a capital injection and debt write-down. Monier was bought in a 2007 deal backed by €2.38bn of debt. That debt is widely held by a 125-member lender group. One person involved in the discussions said a majority of debt was held by creditors not associated with the distressed investors’ bid. Goldman Sachs is advising Monier and PAI. Lazard and Houlihan Lokey are advising creditors.

• Global Leveraged Capital, a private investment firm, said on Wednesday it is launching a new restructuring advisory group. The new firm, called GLC Advisors & Co., will operate separately from Global Leveraged Capital’s investment arm, but in certain cases will be able to provide funding to companies that hire it for restructuring advice. The firm will start with a group of 11 former UBS bankers led by Thomas Benninger, co-founder of Global Leveraged Capital and former global head of restructuring at UBS. The firm expects to expand to 20 to 25 professionals in the next 18 months as corporate default rates are expected to remain elevated over the next few years, Benninger said.Jeffrey Gelles, former head of restructuring and leveraged finance for technology, media, and telecommunications at UBS, and J. Soren Reynertson, former head of European restructuring for UBS, will be managing general partners of GLC Advisors, the company said in a statement.