Berry Plastics price talk emerges; Ellucian, ABB Optical, Schumacher, Hanson join calendar

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, Sept. 9 – Berry Plastics Corp. LLC released price talk on its term loan on Wednesday with launch, and Ellucian, ABB Optical Group Inc., Schumacher Group and Hanson Building Products (Stardust Finance Holdings Inc.) all surfaced with new deal plans.

Berry Plastics sets talk

Berry Plastics held its bank meeting on Wednesday morning, and shortly before the event kicked off, price talk on its $1.9 billion first-lien term loan (Ba3/BB-) due in 2022 was disclosed, according to a market source.

The term loan is talked at Libor plus 325 basis points to 350 bps with a 1% Libor floor, an original issue discount of 99 and 101 soft call protection for six months, the source said.

Commitments are due on Sept. 22.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities LLC are leading the deal that will help fund the roughly $2.45 billion purchase of Avintiv from the Blackstone Group LP.

Closing is expected by year-end, subject to customary conditions.

Berry Plastics is an Evansville, Ind.-based manufacturer of plastic consumer packaging and engineered materials. Avintiv is a Charlotte, N.C.-based producer of specialty materials used in infection prevention, personal care and high performance solutions.

Shenandoah launches

Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. launched during the session its $960 million credit facility that consists of a $75 million revolver, a $485 million five-year term loan A and a $400 million seven-year delayed-draw term loan A-2, of which $325 million will be drawn at closing, a market source said.

The revolver and term loan A have pricing that can range from Libor plus 225 bps to 300 bps based on leverage, and pricing on the term loan A-2 can range from Libor plus 250 bps to 325 bps based on leverage, the source continued.

RBC Capital Markets, CoBank and Fifth Third Bank are leading the deal that will be used help fund the acquisition of Ntelos Holdings Corp. for $9.25 per share in cash for a total equity value of about $208 million, finance a network upgrade and refinance existing debt.

Closing is expected by early 2016, subject to customary conditions, including approval by Ntelos’ shareholders and regulatory approval by the Federal Communications Commission and certain state regulators.

Shenandoah Telecommunications is an Edinburg, Va.-based telecommunications company. Ntelos is a Waynesboro, Va.-based provider of wireless and wireline communications services.

Ellucian coming soon

In more happenings, Ellucian set a bank meeting for 10 a.m. ET on Thursday to launch a $1.61 billion credit facility that consists of a $150 million five-year revolver and a $1.46 billion seven-year covenant-light term loan B, according to a market source.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Barclays, Jefferies Finance LLC, BMO Capital Markets and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are leading the deal.

Proceeds will be used with $590 million of bonds to help fund the buyout of the company by TPG Capital and Leonard Green Partners from Hellman & Friedman and JMI Equity.

Closing is expected before year-end, subject to customary conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals.

Ellucian is a Fairfax, Va.-based provider of higher education software and services.

ABB joins calendar

ABB Optical surfaced with plans to hold a lenders’ presentation at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday to launch a $650 million senior secured credit facility, a market source remarked.

The facility consists of a $100 million revolver, a $400 million first-lien term loan and a $150 million second-lien term loan, the source continued.

Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and GE Capital Markets Inc. are leading the deal that will be used by the optical distributor to refinance an existing first-lien term loan and fund a dividend distribution.

Schumacher on deck

Schumacher Group scheduled a bank meeting for 1:30 p.m. ET in New York on Thursday to launch a $610 million credit facility, according to a market source.

The facility consists of a $75 million revolver, a $400 million seven-year first-lien term loan and a $135 million eight-year second-lien term loan.

The first-lien term loan is talked at Libor plus 425 bps with a 1% Libor floor, an original issue discount of 99 and 101 soft call protection for six months, and the second-lien term loan is talked at Libor plus 825 bps with a 1% Libor floor, a discount of 99 and call protection of 102 in year one and 101 in year two, the source said.

Commitments are due at 5 p.m. ET on Sept. 24, the source added.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Jefferies Finance LLC, BMO Capital Markets and Barclays are leading the deal that will be used to back the already completed acquisition of Schumacher by Onex Corp. and subsequent purchase of Hospital Physician Partners by Schumacher.

Lafayette, La.-based Schumacher and Hollywood, Fla.-based Hospital Physician are providers of outsourced emergency and hospital medicine clinical staffing services.

Hanson readies deal

Hanson Building Products set a lender call for Thursday to launch a fungible $240 million incremental first-lien term loan due March 13, 2022 talked at Libor plus 550 bps with a 1% Libor floor, an original issue discount that is still to be determined and 101 soft call protection through March 13, 2016, a market source said.

The spread, floor and call protection match the company’s existing first-lien term loan.

Commitments are due on Sept. 24, the source remarked.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Barclays and Goldman Sachs Bank USA are leading the deal that will be used to fund the acquisition of Cretex Concrete Products Inc.

The company’s existing first-lien term loan was unchanged in trading with the incremental news at 99½ bid, 100¼ offered, another source added.

Hanson Building Products is a manufacturer of concrete and clay building products.

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