By the end of 2025, Optiv was in a tight spot.
The KKR-backed cybersecurity value-added reseller had more than $1bn of first-lien, second-lien and ABL debt maturing over the next two years, most of it in 2026. The first liens were trading in the low 70s, and a last-ditch effort to sell its managed services business had petered out; the company was effectively un-refinanceable.
Pivoting to a restructuring, lenders broke into three constituencies: first-lien lenders holding a majority of the $725m led by Canyon Partners and Silver Point Capital organized with Sullivan & Cromwell; Charlesbank as a cross-holder retained Ropes & Gray; and the remaining second-lien holders retained Willkie Farr. The second-lien debt was tightly held; CVC Credit was part of the quasi-private credit junior facility that wasn’t broadly syndicated in the company’s 2023 recap.
For its part, the company retained Kirkland & Ellis and Perella Weinberg to explore options.
Sources describe two distinct phases of the talks. The concept was initially pitched as a straightforward par A&E in the late fall, but one that included some non-pro rata liability-management elements. Sponsors and lenders also sparred over whether there would be any fresh-money contribution, according to...
