Wyndham bank debt heads up as company gets closer to satisfying amendment requirements

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, June 12 - Wyndham International Inc.'s bank debt rallied once again, this time with levels moving up by about two points as the company announced that it successfully completed a mortgage refinancing, satisfying a large percentage of the paydown requirement under its recently obtained amendment.

The Dallas hotel enterprise's term loan B was quoted with a bid around 88 and the IRL was quoted at 90 bid, 91 offered, according to a trader, who put both tranches up by approximately two points since Wednesday's close.

During the day, the company revealed that it completed a $425 million mortgage refinancing secured by 19 hotel properties with a new loan that has an initial maturity date of June 9, 2005 and can be extended at the company's discretion to July 8, 2008. The loan was made by affiliates of Lehman Brothers.

This refinancing satisfies 65% of the pay down required to extend the maturity date of its credit facilities under an amendment, which calls for the extension of the maturity date of the increasing rate loans and revolver to April 1, 2006 from June 30, 2004, upon satisfaction of certain conditions, including the repayment of certain levels of existing debt within the next nine months.

Due to the completion of this milestone the company anticipates being able to complete the remaining conditions for extending the maturity dates prior to the nine-month deadline, according to a news release.

On Tuesday, Wyndham's bank debt also saw an improvement with quotes moving up by about a point during market hours, with the term loan B quoted at 85 bid, 86 offered, as people continued to search the secondary for paper and investors continued to show support for the amendment, which was announced on June 2.

Over 95% of the IRLs and revolving credit facility lenders voted in favor of the amendment; loans held by the non-consenting lenders will retain the original maturity date.

J.P. Morgan Chase is administrative agent on the loan.

In the primary, Xerox Corp.'s $1 billion credit facility, which has been out to managing agents for a little while, is now expected to close on June 19, a source close to the deal told Prospect News on Thursday. JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, joint lead arrangers on the deal, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, UBS and Merrill Lynch are all designated as equal underwriters.

The facility consists of a $700 million revolver and a $300 million term loan. Price talk on the tranches was said to be Libor plus 300 basis points.

The credit facility is part of a major refinancing plan that will also include a high-yield bond offering, convertible offering and common equity offering, according to the source.

The company is expected to begin a roadshow on Friday to market all of the various offerings that are part of this refinancing package, the source said.

Proceeds from all the different debt and equity offerings will be used to repay the Stamford, Conn. document company's existing bank debt.

Nellson Nutraceutical Inc. held a bank meeting for a $285 million senior secured credit facility on Thursday. UBS Securities LLC is the lead bank on the deal. Goldman Sachs is also involved in the deal.

The facility consists of a $260 million term loan with price talk of Libor plus 350 basis points and a $25 million revolver, sources said.

Proceeds will be used to help fund the acquisition of Bariatrix Products International Inc., a privately owned Montreal-based manufacturer of functional bars and powders.

Pro forma leverage will be 3.5 times EBITDA and 3.3 times adjusted EBITDA.

The company came to market not too long ago when it launched a $145 million credit facility in September 2002 to help fund its leveraged buyout by Fremont Partners. UBS Warburg was the lead arranger and bookrunner on that deal.

Nellson Neutraceutical is an Irwindale, Calif. nutritional bar and powder manufacturer.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.