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David Bell

The bright conference lights of Miami and Las Vegas dampened the pace of new supply in leveraged credit markets for most of this week, but there were plenty of thrills and spills in the secondary trading to keep people on alert.

Morgan Stanley launched a $1.6bn TLB refinancing for educational content company Cengage on Friday, in a sign that primary action is gearing up again after JP Morgan’s high yield and SFVegas structured finance gatherings drew crowds away from their desks.

Clear Channel Outdoor grabbed attention earlier in the week with a $425m TLB extension and new $865m 2030 SSN that was seen as favorable for the company given its triple-C ratings and double-digit leverage, even though outdoor advertising is doing well. Price talk on the deal tightened this morning in an indication of demand. Commitments are due Monday, 4 March.

A handful of new sponsor-backed deals in the pipeline could bring more supply:

JP Morgan has reportedly beat direct lenders to provide a $2.5bn financing package for Softbank-backed data management company Cohesity’s proposed acquisition of Veritas

UBS, KKR Capital Markets, and Jefferies are preparing a $2.6bn term loan to back KKR’s acquisition of Broadcom’s end-user computing division (though Broadcom’s plan to also sell security software business Carbon Black are on pause after bids fell short of expectations, according to a Bloomberg report)

JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are readying an $8bn debt package to fund Stone Point and CD&R’s $15.5bn acquisition of Truist’s remaining stake in its insurance arm

Medical equipment company Agiliti is being taken private by its majority owner THL Partners, which raises the potential for new debt, according to Moody’s which put the company’s B1 corporate and secured ratings on review for downgrade

Companies including California Resources, Xenia Hotels & Resorts and Calumet Specialty Products Partnersalso flagged upcoming trips to the capital markets on their earnings calls this week.

But with all that being said, folks aren’t getting too excited about new deal flow.

“Even though the market has tightened, the overall cost of debt is just really high,” said Jeremy Burton, US high yield and leveraged loan portfolio manager at PineBridge Investments. “Activity has been low because the math just doesn't work for new LBOs.”

The volume of loan repricings has also slowed as there aren’t an infinite number of candidates trading above par.

Charter and Altice USA grabbed headlines on Monday after reports that Charter was considering acquiring the broadband company. This sparked a rally in Altice USA’s struggling debt and equity prices, but Charter’s higher rated debt fell on concerns an acquisition would do little to arrest its declining subscriber numbers.

Elsewhere in broadcasting, some analysts think Disney, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery’s plans to launch a new sports streaming platform will catalyze more consolidation in the industry.

“That sports steaming deal is prompting other players within the universe to make their own moves,” said one high yield investor. “It’s a classic story of all companies in a decline — you get bigger in order to survive.”

Many investors have taken a dim view on the outlook for local TV and broadcasting companies such as Gray Television, E.W. Scripps, Sinclair, and TEGNA thanks to the new sports streaming venture.

Gray Television reported Q4 earnings on Tuesday that failed to slow a decline in its bond and share prices, after the company pulled a debt refinancing attempt earlier this month. Earnings were down slightly in line with a drop in political advertising in a non-election year.

ModivCare was one of the biggest “losers” in the high yield market this week after its Q4 earnings report flagged its dwindling liquidity ahead of a 2025 debt maturity, though S&P sees things stabilizing. The medical transport company’s 5% 2029 senior notes were down around 7 points to 73 this week.

US network infrastructure provider CommScope saw high intraday trading volatility on Thursday, as its $1.5bn 6% senior notes due 2025 plummeted nine points at one stage to 73 cents on the dollar, while its share price lost 38% and hit a new low of $1.18, prompted by an unexpected drop in Q4 earnings. The notes have quickly recovered to the low 80s.

Bonds issued by chemical company Chemours dropped 4-6 points into the 80s after the company placed three top executives on administrative leave and delayed its Q4 earnings report to deal with an accounting audit.

Office supplier Staples told a better story, with the Sycamore Partners-backed company’s unsecured bond popping 12 points higher to 92 after it pre-released encouraging Q4 earnings guidance, bolstering deleveraging and refinancing hopes, according to 9fin sources.

Medical product supplier Medline also demonstrated continued growth under its sponsors Hellman & Friedman, Blackstone and Carlyle with an early look at its FY 2023 numbers.

Finally, cruise line NCL Corp reported better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday but said it was in no rush to refinance its cheap $565m 3.625% SUNs that come due in December of 2024.

Sporting-goods maker Vista Outdoor gets $2.9 billion takeover offer (WSJ)

Macy’s to close 150 stores in latest turnaround bid (WSJ)

Pepsi, IBM sell bonds through Singapore to reap tax benefit (Bloomberg)

What companies need to know when accounting for leap day (WSJ)

Shein considers London IPO after US resistance to listing (Bloomberg)

Activist investor Elliott to target mining assets worth more than $1 billion (Reuters)

Why fast-food fans flipped out over Wendy's pricing (Axios)

Do Nielsen ratings really reflect what people want from streamers? (Vulture)

Weight-loss drugs could boost US GDP by 1% in coming years, Goldman says (Reuters)

World’s biggest music company deploys the ‘nuclear option’ against TikTok (WSJ)

Apple parks its electric car project in sign of EV industry’s struggles (Financial Times)

Why are there suddenly so many car washes? (Bloomberg)

How much more expensive is food now, really? (Intelligencer)

Elon Musk eats humble pie over unpaid bakery bill (BBC)

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