Avient, Invenergy Thermal free up; Sharp Services changes emerge; SeaWorld shelved

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, Aug. 4 – Avient Corp. firmed up the size of its first-lien senior secured covenant-lite term loan B-7 and then broke for trading on Friday, and Invenergy Thermal Operating I LLC’s strip of term loan B and term loan C debt emerged in the secondary market as well.

Also, Sharp Services LLC increased the size of its incremental first-lien term loan B and tightened the original issue discount, and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Inc. withdrew its term loan B from market.

Furthermore, OpenText Corp. approached lenders with a repricing of its term loan B, and Tenneco Inc. and Tacala Cos. joined the near-term primary calendar.

Avient updated

Avient set the size of its first-lien senior secured covenant-lite term loan B-7 (Ba1/BB+) due Aug. 29, 2029 at $731,597,036.98, compared to talk at launch of $832 million, according to a market source.

The company said during syndication that it would use $100 million of cash from the balance sheet to repay non-consenting lenders, if any, and the balance would be used for a pro-rata repayment at closing.

The term loan B-7 is priced at SOFR plus 250 basis points with a 0.5% floor and a par issue price and has 101 soft call protection for six months and 0 bps CSA.

Previously in syndication, the issue price for existing term loan B-5 lenders and new money lenders was revised from 99.75.

Avient breaks

On Friday, Avient’s term loan B-7 freed to trade, with levels quoted at par 1/8 bid, par 5/8 offered, a trader added.

Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., JPMorgan Chase Bank and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. are leading the deal that will be used to refinance the company’s existing term loan B-5 due 2026 and term loan B-6 due Aug. 29, 2029 and to pay related fees and expenses. Citi is the agent.

Closing is expected in mid-August.

Avient is an Avon Lake, Ohio-based provider of specialized and sustainable material solutions.

Invenergy hits secondary

Invenergy Thermal Operating’s strip of $325 million six-year term loan B and $25 million six-year term loan C debt broke as well, with levels quoted at 98¼ bid, 99¼ offered, according to a market source.

Pricing on the term loan debt is SOFR+CSA plus 450 bps with a 1% floor and it was sold at an original issue discount of 98. CSA is 11.448 bps one-month rate, 26.161 bps three-month rate and 42.826 bps six-month rate. The debt has 101 soft call protection for six months.

During syndication, pricing on the term loan firmed at the low end of the SOFR plus 450 bps to 475 bps talk and the discount was modified from 97.

The company’s $500 million of credit facilities (Ba2/BB-) also include a $150 million five-year revolver.

MUFG, BofA Securities Inc. and BMO Capital Markets are leading the deal that will be used to refinance existing debt, and the term loan C will prefund letters of credit.

Invenergy Thermal is a 2.29 GW gas-fired power portfolio that is owned by a 50/50 joint venture between Invenergy Clean Power LLC and InfraBridge’s Global Infrastructure Fund Platform.

Sharp Services tweaked

Sharp Services lifted its non-fungible incremental first-lien term loan B due December 2028 to $245 million from $211.4 million and adjusted the original issue discount to 98.5 from 98, a market source remarked.

As before, the term loan is priced at SOFR plus 450 bps with a 0.5% floor, and has 101 soft call protection for six months.

JPMorgan Chase Bank and RBC Capital Markets are co-leads on the deal and bookrunners with Barclays, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and ING.

The term loan will be used with cash on hand and equity to fund the acquisition of the remaining 75% stake in Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, a provider of specialized isolator-based sterile filling of vials, syringes, cartridges and containers, as well as lyophilization and terminal sterilization to small, medium and virtual pharma and biotech companies.

Sharp Services is a provider of pharmaceutical packaging and clinical services.

SeaWorld pulled

SeaWorld withdrew its $665 million senior secured term loan B (Ba2/BB) due Aug. 25, 2028 from market, a market source said.

Talk on the term loan was SOFR plus 250 bps with a 0.5% floor, a par issue price, 101 soft call protection for six months and no CSA.

JPMorgan Chase Bank was leading the deal that was going to be used with $750 million of five-year senior secured notes to refinance the company’s existing $1.182 billion term loan B due Aug. 25, 2028 priced at Libor plus 300 bps with a 0.5% floor and $228 million senior secured notes due 2025.

SeaWorld is an Orlando, Fla.-based theme park and entertainment company.

OpenText repricing

OpenText launched on Friday morning without a lender call a $3.567 billion senior secured term loan B (Ba1/BBB-/BBB-) due Jan. 31, 2030 talked at SOFR+10 bps CSA plus 275 bps with a 0.5% floor, a par issue price and 101 soft call protection for six months, a market source remarked.

Commitments are due at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, the source added.

Barclays and BofA Securities Inc. are leading the deal that will be used to reprice an existing term loan B due January 2030 down from SOFR+10 bps CSA plus 350 bps with a 0.5% floor.

OpenText is a Waterloo, Ont.-based provider of enterprise information management, helping companies securely capture, govern and exchange information.

Tenneco on deck

Tenneco set a lender call for 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday to launch a term loan B to prospective lenders and senior secured notes, according to market sources.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is the left lead arranger on the loan and BofA Securities Inc. is the left lead on the notes.

The debt will be used to repay all or a portion of the company’s senior secured interim credit facility associated with its buyout by Apollo for $20.00 per share that was completed in November 2022, and to pay related fees and expenses.

The company had launched in November 2022 a $1.4 billion six-year covenant-lite senior secured term loan B talked at SOFR+10 bps CSA plus 500 bps with a 0.5% floor, an original issue discount of 84 to 85 and 101 soft call protection for six months, and $1 billion of senior secured notes, but those debt transactions were later pulled from market.

Tenneco is a Lake Forest, Ill.-based designer, manufacturer and marketer of automotive products for original equipment and aftermarket customers.

Tacala readies deal

Tacala scheduled a lender call for 11 a.m. ET on Monday to launch a new loan transaction, a market source remarked.

KKR Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities LLC are leading the deal that will be used to refinance existing debt and fund a dividend.

Tacala is a Vestavia Hills, Ala.-based franchise operator of Taco Bell restaurants.

Fund flows

In other news, actively managed loan fund flows on Thursday were negative $41 million and loan ETFs were negative $48 million, market sources said.

Loan funds reported weekly outflows totaling $278 million, including negative $63 million ETFs. This was the largest outflow since May, but flows were balanced over the prior eight reporting weeks following a stretch of $57 billion of outflows equating to 40% of AUM since May 2022.

Outflows for loan funds year to date total $19.1 billion, with negative $855 million ETFs, sources added.

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