Target nation: France
Date announced: 08/11/08
Sponsor: Investcorp
Arranger: Unknown
Financing: Unknown
In France, Investcorp-owned Groupe Autodistribution is understood to be in talks with lenders about possible refinancing solutions for the leveraged auto parts distributor. The company declined to comment. In 2006 InvestCorp acquired the business from Goldman Sachs in a secondary LBO backed by a €530m debt package via bookrunner Citigroup.
Autodistribution is an independent distributor of auto, truck and industrial parts in France, through a network of 130 wholesalers running 600 distribution outlets, two-thirds of which are owned, with the remainder made up of independent affiliates. Goldman had originally acquired the company in a debt-for-equity swap in late 2000.
Target nation: UK
Date announced: 08/11/08
Sponsor: Charterhouse
Arranger: Unknown
Financing: Unknown
Managed UK pubs concern Barracuda Pubs Group is reported to have hired Deloitte to advise on its debt situation. The company declined to comment. Sponsor Charterhouse paid £262m to PPM ventures, the private equity arm of Prudential, for the business in a 2005 LBO. The deal was backed by a £103.8m opco-level debt package via mandated lead arranger RBS.
Barracuda operates more than 200 managed pubs and bars in England, Scotland and Wales, split between five main brands: Smith & Jones, Varsity, Barracuda bar, Juniper and Cape.
According to the company, which declined to comment on the latest reports, it is one of the 10 largest managed pub operators in the UK, with annual turnover of more than £100m.
The UK pubs sector has suffered from the recent downturn, but also over the longer term from the dramatic gap that has opened up between supermarket prices and on-premises prices. Retail chains in particular have cut beer prices aggressively, breaking traditional drinking habits.
Target nation: UK
Date announced: 01/11/08
Sponsor: Three Delta
Arranger: Undisclosed
Financing: See below
Four Seasons Health Care Group has entered into a new standstill agreement with its senior lenders until January 22 2009. It follows an earlier standstill agreement in September.
Four Seasons was bought in a £1.4bn LBO in 2006 led by Qatar Investment Authority-backed financial sponsor Three Delta. The deal was backed by a debt package made up of 11 separate tranches. QIA has now walked away from the business, after seeing its £100m equity investment wiped out.
The standstill agreement does give the company a respite, and more importantly creates more time for the mix of debt investors to work towards agreeing a consensual restructuring of the group’s debt, paving the way for a debt for equity swap.
While the group said talks were constructive and lenders supportive, sources close to the situation said the mix of lenders and the complexity of the capital structure made securing a consensual agreement particularly slow going, as investors jockeyed for position.
Four Seasons is the UK’s third-largest care home operator. It has an outstanding debt package of about £1.5bn, which has been strangling the company over the course of 2008.
In September, a £900m refinancing deal put forward by Royal Bank of Scotland was rejected by the other creditors.
Target nation: UK
Date announced: 08/11/08
Sponsor: Charterhouse
Arranger: Merrill Lynch
Financing: Unknown
Lucite International has secured consent from a majority of its lender group to waive maintenance covenants for the next two quarters, according to a person close to the situation. Lenders were offered a 25bp fee to consent to the waiver, which must be agreed by 50% of the syndicate by this Monday. Merrill Lynch is acting as agent. The deal was agreed as part of an agreed M&A process that will see sponsor Charterhouse Development Capital sell the business to trade buyer Mitsubishi Rayon Co in an all cash deal. Senior debt investors will be taken out at par.
In 2007 Lucite repriced its US$950m term loan B, taking advantage of plunging debt prices that allowed bookrunner Merrill Lynch to cut the margin on the term loan B from 275bp to 225bp. At the time investors were paid a 10bp fee, and given a 101 soft call for one year as a guarantee against further repricing. In 2006 Lucite had completed a dividend recap and put in place a mainly B loan package.
That financing was made up of the term loan B, plus a US$100m six-year revolver and a €260m eight-year subordinated PIK loan non-callable for the first year, with call protection of 102, 101 and par thereafter.
Lucite is an acrylic-based products manufacturer and is 78% owned by Charterhouse Development International.
Target nation: France
Date announced: 08/11/08
Sponsor: PAI
Arranger: Goldman Sachs
Financing: Unknown
PAI-owned Monier, formerly Lafarge Roofing, has hired Goldman Sachs to advise on possible refinancing and debt restructuring options, according to restructuring sources. Monier and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Germany-based Monier is a roofing supplier: it operates in 40 countries and was formerly part of the French building supplies giant Lafarge.
The situation is understood to be at an early stage, with the business still trading inside banking covenants: senior lenders have yet to appoint advisers. The move to consider restructuring options highlights the rapid deterioration in the leveraged market. In May 2007 a €2.38bn refinancing of Lafarge Roofing became the epitome of top of the market froth when bookrunners completed a double reverse flex after the loan raised a huge oversubscription in syndication. The facility was completed via bookrunners BNP Paribas and JPMorgan, with Bank of America as bookrunner on the second lien and PIK pieces and a mandated lead arranger across the whole package. Mizuho Corporate Bank and SG were mandated lead arrangers on the senior facilities. In early November, CDS protection for Monier was offered at 1,250bp, making it the most expensive constituent in the LevXSnr index of leveraged loans to insure against default, alongside VNU World Directories.
Source: IFR Loans/EVCJ
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