Sola sees some early interest as Union Bank of California signs up as administrative agent

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, Oct. 31 - There has already been some early interest on Sola International Inc.'s $225 million credit facility, although since the books were not posted until Friday the only early commitment that has already been received on the deal came from a bank that is a participant in the company's existing credit facility.

Union Bank of California signed on as administrative agent for Sola's proposed loan, joining a syndicate that consists of UBS Investment Bank and JPMorgan as joint lead arrangers and bookrunners, with UBS listed on the left, according to a market professional.

Furthermore, pricing on the refinancing deal, which is set to launch Tuesday, firmed up at Libor plus 300 basis points on both the $175 million six-year term loan and a $50 million five-year revolver.

Sola is a San Diego designer, manufacturer and global distributor of plastic and glass eyeglass lenses.

Sola's launch will be joined by a number of new deals that are slated to kick off next week in what appears to be a relatively full primary, including Atkins Nutritionals Inc., CamelBak, Houston NFL Holdings LP, St. Marys Cement Inc. and Transport Industries LP.

Atkins Nutritionals is set to launch a $308.5 million senior secured credit facility on Tuesday consisting of a $30 million five-year revolver, a $200 million six-year first lien term loan and a $78.5 million six-year second lien term loan

UBS Investment Bank is the lead arranger on the deal, which will be used to back the company's buyout by Parthenon Capital and GS Capital Partners.

Atkins Nutritionals is a Ronkonkoma, N.Y. provider of food, nutritional and information products for controlled carbohydrate lifestyles.

CamelBak is scheduled to hold a bank meeting on Tuesday for a $100 million senior secured credit facility consisting of a $20 million five-year revolver and an $80 million six-year term loan, both talked at Libor plus 425 basis points.

BNP Paribas and Bank of New York are the lead banks on the deal, with BNP listed on the left.

Proceeds will be used to help support the acquisition of 100% of CamelBak's capital stock by the existing sponsor.

CamelBak is a Petaluma, Calif. Producer of personal hydration systems.

Houston NFL Holdings, the ownership group of the Houston Texans football franchise, is slated to hold a bank meeting on Monday for a $225 million credit facility, consisting of a $125 million five-year term loan A with an interest rate of Libor plus 175 basis points and a $100 million six-year term loan B with an interest rate of Libor plus 200 basis points.

JPMorgan and Societe Generale are the lead banks on the deal.

Proceeds from the new credit facility combined with $125 million being drawn down from an existing league wide facility will be used to refinance existing debt.

St. Marys Cement is scheduled to hold a bank meeting on Monday in Toronto and on Tuesday in New York regarding a $325 million senior secured credit facility (B1) consisting of a Canadian four-year revolver for the equivalent of US$50 million, a Canadian four-year term loan A for the equivalent of US$75 million and a US$200 million six-year term loan B, the source said.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is the lead bank on the deal that will be used to refinance an existing $265 million term loan.

St. Marys Cement is a Toronto supplier of cement, ready mix and aggregates.

Transport Industries is slated to hold a bank meeting on Thursday for a $100 million credit facility consisting of a $40 million five-year revolver with an interest rate of Libor plus 325 basis points and a $60 million five-year term loan A with an interest rate of Libor plus 325 basis points.

Wachovia is the lead bank on the deal that will be used to refinance existing debt.

Transport Industries is a third party provider of dedicated "closed-loop" transportation services.

In the secondary, Walter Industries Inc.'s term loan may start seeing a bit of a shift downwards as investors continue to expect future paydowns.

On Thursday the term loan was quoted at 100.75 bid with no offer and the revolver was offered at 98.875 with no bid, according to a fund manager, who added that no quotes were seen on the paper on Friday.

"If anything I would guess that it would move closer to that par level because who would want to pay over par for a name that's going to see a significant paydown?" the fund manager said.

Not only will at least 50% of the proceeds from the recently announced sale of JW Aluminum Co. be used to repay bank debt, as required by the credit agreement's covenants, but investors are also expecting a paydown with proceeds from the previously announced Aimcor sale.

Walter Industries announced late Thursday that it is selling JW Aluminum to Wellspring Capital Management LLC for $125 million and expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter.

Furthermore, on Sept. 23, the company announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Applied Industrial Materials Corp. (Aimcor) subsidiary to Oxbow Carbon & Minerals LLC for $127.7 million. This transaction is also expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Walter Industries is a Tampa, Fla. diversified company involved in homebuilding, home financing and water transmission products.

In follow-up news, Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. said it closed on its new $135 million senior secured credit facility (B1/B+) made up of a $125 million term loan and a $10 million revolver.

The Coconut Grove, Fla. radio broadcaster used proceeds of the loan along with a $75 million preferred stock offering to complete its purchase of station KXOL-FM in Los Angeles from the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Spanish Broadcasting intends to repay some of the bank borrowings with proceeds from the sale of some non-core stations in San Antonio, Texas and San Francisco.

The term loan is at Libor plus 350 basis points. Lehman Brothers was lead arranger.

© 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.