News in brief

Following strong demand in primary syndication for its loan, TDC, the Danish telecom company that was the subject of Europe’s largest ever buyout in January 2006, is set to cancel the €245m 11-year PIK tranche paying 13.75% through leads Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and RBS. The debt will be redistributed among the senior tranches.

The €2.275bn 18-month high-yield bridge remains in place, with the corresponding bond issue still expected early in Q2. The €15bn

Apax Partners consortium-led LBO of the Danish telecoms company involves supporting debt totalling €8.5bn. Senior net debt to Ebitda is 4.4x, while total cash pay leverage is 5.6x.

0Private equity funds managed by WestLB and Odewald have acquired Westfalia Automotive, a German manufacturer of towing bars and systems for motor vehicles, from a UK investment arm of Granville Baird. Financial details were not disclosed, but industry experts estimate that the total value of the transaction lies in the region of €90m (US$107m), based on typical leverage ratios. Bank of Ireland provided debt financing amounting to €60m, according to IFR, the sister publication of IFR Buyouts. In September 2000, Granville Baird Capital Partners supported the MBO of Westfalia Automotive from Westfalia Werke for £11.6m (US$20m).

0Calder Group, a UK producer of sheet lead and engineered lead products, has been acquired by GermanCapital, a Munich-based investment firm, and UK peer Cognis Capital. The company was sold by buyout firm Permira. Calder Group had been acquired together with Metal Castings in 1998 by Schroder Ventures, a predecessor of the Permira Funds. The vendor was Rubicon Group, which had acquired Calder Group for £90m (US$142m) in 1995. The majority of the latest transaction was directly funded by GermanCapital and Cognis Capital Partners. Senior

debt was provided by Royal Bank of Scotland and Shearman & Sterling acted as legal adviser to the purchasers.

0Spanish mid-market buyout house Corpfin Capital has announced a first closing on its third fund and expects to finalise the fundraising effort before summer. The initial €100m close was completed in December 2005, but has only just been announced by the company. The vehicle will invest equity slugs of €10m–€30m in Spanish mid-market companies, but has the capability to invest more through co-investments. Investors at first close include international groups such as the World Bank, WestLB, Fondinvest, RWB, Von Braun and Citicorp, alongside Spanish groups including the pension fund of Caixa Madrid, BBVA and insurance company la Caixa.