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Primary markets brought more excitement this week…welcome news for us all!

Top billing goes to EG Group which came to market with a much-anticipated A&E announcement for its existing TLBs (€2.12bn 1L TLB due February 2025, $2.79bn 1L TLBs due February 2025 and March 2026, £600m 1L TLB due February 2025 and A$378m 1L due February 2025).

The group is proposing to extend these maturities to February 2028. It is not, however, addressing a €610m 2L April 2027, which, following the exercise, will mature ahead of the first lien, an unusual situation where a subordinated instrument is ahead in the time queue.

We’ll have more content around the deal over the coming days but in the meantime, check out our ESG QuickTake and recent M&Asda analysis for the merger of EG’s UK and Ireland operations with Asda, announced the previous week.

New York-based chemicals distributor Univar also deserves a shoutout for bringing a proper cross-border new money LBO in decent size — the euro loans piece will be $550m euro-equivalent, alongside a $1.75bn TLB, and $1.8bn-equivalent of bonds, to support Apollo’s acquisition of the business.

Despite a pickup in activity this week, we’re still not at full capacity. One sellsider attributes it to a “relatively light pipeline from a M&A and LBO perspective”. This was echoed by a second sellsider who noted that “2023 flows have been sustained thanks to refinancing but the outlook for supply remains uncertain given the slow M&A and LBO pipeline”.

French B2B information services company Infopro Digital was the biggest European HY deal this week — offering €975m across senior secured fixed rate and senior secured floating rate tranches due 2028.

One buysider predicted that the name would “benefit from a lack of competition” — which seems to have been the case as the deal was tightened to 8% (from IPTs of 8.50%-8.75%) on the fixed side and to 99 OID (from IPTs of 97.5 to 98 OID) on the floating side. The margin on the FRNs was also tightened from E+500bps at IPT to E+475bps.

A second buysider revealed that, “we got higher allocations on Infopro than expected, I think some people dropped out as it tightened”.

Speaking on the HY primary market, a third sellsider shared that “we are telling issuers to go now given the low level of competition on top of the idea that it could get more expensive to raise debt going forward)”.

The Infopro deal follows sponsor TowerBrook announcing its reinvestment in the company back in May for its flagship fund.

“They’re quite a good sponsor — they have a good track record and they’re not dividend hungry”, a third buysider noted.

Despite TowerBrook’s recent decision to reinvest, back in September 2021 it was reported that advisors were hired to sell the sponsor’s stake, reportedly looking for a 13x multiple. According to our sources, the sponsor struggled to find co-investors first time round.

Check out our Credit, Legal and ESG QuickTakes for more 9fin analysis on the name.

Despite the incessant projections for a central bank-induced slowdown, the EHY market has taken them in its stride — but there’s more to it than meets the eye, according to our first sellsider.

“The market is pricing better than it should be with the iTraxx Europe Crossover Index around 400 bps — the tightest it’s been in months. That’s down to technical factors such as a lack of supply.”

A fourth sellsider added that “the buyside wants to invest but issuers aren’t coming to market”.

Spanish paper manufacturer Lecta (mentioned in last week’s Watching the Defectives) was the week’s biggest EHY loser — its 6% 2025 SSFRNs fell 4.8 points to land at 77.2. The name is still feeling pressure from investors after releasing poor Q1 23 numbers on 24 May 2023. 

Another theme from our conversations is that the uncertain macro backdrop is sparking a “flight to quality” within the debt markets. The third sellsider said, “there is more demand for higher quality deals which contrasts what we were seeing during the QE-fuelled era”.

This is also being done via moving into subordinated paper of liquid, IG issuers instead of simply investing in EHY — a theme we touched on during last week’s LevFin Wrap. Whilst Vodafone’s recent hybrid was singled out as an example, there is a caveat to this approach.

“It makes sense given where comparative yields are (IG vs HY) but there is extension risk that you take on if you don’t get called. You also need to be selective because, for example, you don’t want to be in real estate subordinated names right now.”

Check out the latest Friday Workout, Macro Prophet and Earnings Digest for more colour on how high yield companies are faring.

Up first, Cognita — the privately owned UK school operator — came to the market with a €905m TLB A&E (3.5 year extension to April 2029). Initial price talk is guiding at E+475-500bps with a 0% floor and 98 OID. The company also received the tailwind of a Fitch upgrade, revising outlook to positive from stable and affirming at B-.

A fourth buysider mentioned that A&Es are offering some much-needed liquidity to loan markets. According to one sellsider, “syndicated loan market volume is still down 46% YTD compared to 2022”.

A fourth sellsider also noted that “it’s harder for debutants (new issuers) to enter a difficult market. It’s easier to do A&Es as you have a familiar investor base”.

Irish aircraft leasing company Avolon announced a $1.682bn (initially $1.431bn) TLB A&E (June 2028 maturity). Estimated margin is at S+250bps with a floor of 0.5% and OID of 99. 

Spanish hotel booking platform Hotelbeds also rode the A&E wave (fresh off ratings upgrades from Moody’s and S&P, taking it back up toB3/B-) — launching a €608m TLB (September 2028 maturity). Initial price chatter is at E+500bps with a 0% floor and 97 OID. 

Our fourth buysider welcomed the Hotelbeds deal but said it is “trickier; I wonder if people will say they need more to extend”.

Cognita and Hotelbeds also represent some of the first B3 names to try A&Es this year, with most of the non-distressed A&E transactions so far relatively strong credits. 

CH Guenther & Son, the Pritzker Capital-owned food company, priced an upsized €250m (vs €230m) TLB this week. Final terms were E+450bps, 98.5 OID (slighter tighter than 98 price talk) with a 0% floor. 

Prior to this refinancing, its only euro debt was a €190m 2025 TLB with a 350 bps margin, repriced in September 2019 — and the small size made some lenders reluctant to get involved.

One buysider said, “it’s just a bit on the small side for us so we didn’t dedicate much time there. There wouldn’t be the liquidity there; Monbake was already a push”.

After launching a new bond deal just a few weeks ago, Merlin Entertainments upsized an €900m A&E (from €700m) TLB due 2029. Revised price talk has landed on the tighter side: E+400bps (from E+400-425bps). OID is at 99 with a 0% floor.

Finally, beauty packager Axilone is in market with a dual currency A&E, pushing maturities to January 2028. The euro tranche is a €313.6m TLB (A&E from 2025). Initial price talk is guiding towards E+475bps with an OID of 97-98. The dollar tranche is a $44.6m TLB — price talk yet to be shared. 

Centrient Pharmaceuticals had the week’s biggest drop in loan land — its €335m and €180m TLBs both down 8.3 points on the week. Moody’s maintained its negative outlook for the company on May 23, following the halt of production at Centrient’s Indian site on quality concerns. 

Moody’s said that the loss of revenues and the cost of a product recall could erase the EBITDA contribution from the Indian Astral site for 2023. In 2022, the site contributed around €10m to the €90.7m company-adjusted EBTIDA.

Moving from medicines to movies, Cineworld saw the biggest jump with its €607m and $3.2bn TLBs up 9.6 (to 24.7) and 7.5 points (to 30.7) respectively. Investors were encouraged as the cinema operator reached a long-awaited deal that gives National CineMedia, the movie chain’s in-theatre advertiser, exclusive rights to more than 450 theatres. It is expected to emerge from Chapter 11 in July.

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