Consol breaks; Allison updates deal; Staples, Six Flags, Direct Chassis, E.W. float talk

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, March 26 – Consol Energy Inc.’s term loan B made its way into the secondary market on Tuesday and was seen trading above its original issue discount.

Meanwhile, in the primary market, Allison Transmission Inc. set the spread on its term loan B at the low end of guidance and tightened the issue price.

Also, Staples Inc., Six Flags Theme Parks Inc., Direct ChassisLink Inc. (Drive Chassis Holdco LLC), E.W. Scripps Co., Greenhill & Co. Inc. and Lonestar II Generation Holdings LLC released price talk with launch, and Servpro emerged with plans to bring a new loan transaction to market.

Consol hits secondary

Consol Energy’s $275 million 5.5-year covenant-lite term loan B (Ba3/BB) began trading on Tuesday, with levels quoted at 99¾ bid, 100¾ offered, according to a market source.

Pricing on the term loan is Libor plus 450 basis points with a 0% Libor floor, and it was sold at an original issue discount of 99.5. The debt has 101 soft call protection for one year.

During syndication, the term loan B was downsized from $300 million, pricing was lifted from talk in the range of Libor plus 400 bps to 425 bps, the discount widened from par, and the MFN all-in yield threshold was reduced to 0 bps from 50 bps, to be applied to incremental term B loans and pari passu senior secured notes.

Due to the term loan B downsizing, the funded portion of pro rata debt is being increased by $25 million through the up to $400 million revolver and/or up to $100 million term loan A.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc., PNC Capital Markets, Huntington Bank, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. are leading the deal that will be used to amend and extend an existing term loan B priced at Libor plus 600 bps with a 1% Libor floor.

Consol, a Canonsburg, Pa.-based producer and exporter of high-Btu bituminous thermal and crossover metallurgical coal, expects to close on the new loan transaction on Thursday.

Allison tweaks deal

Switching to the primary market, Allison Transmission firmed pricing on its $648 million seven-year senior secured amended and extended covenant-lite term loan B at Libor plus 200 bps, the low end of the Libor plus 200 bps to 225 bps talk, and revised the original issue discount to 99.75 from 99, a market source remarked.

As before, the term loan has a 0% Libor floor and 101 soft call protection for six months.

The company’s $1,248,000,000 billion of senior secured credit facilities also include a $600 million revolver.

Recommitments are due at noon ET on Wednesday, the source added.

Citigroup Global Markets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Fifth Third Bank, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BMO Capital Markets, Barclays, SMBC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman Sachs Bank USA and MUFG are leading the deal that will be used with $500 million of senior notes and cash on hand to repay the company’s existing credit facilities, including a $1,148,000,000 term loan B, and to pay fees and expenses.

Closing is expected on Friday.

Allison Transmission is an Indianapolis-based automatic transmission company and supplier of hybrid-propulsion systems.

Staples reveals talk

Staples held its bank meeting on Tuesday and announced talk on its $3.2 billion seven-year first-lien term loan (B+) at Libor plus 475 bps to 500 bps with a 0% Libor floor, an original issue discount of 99 and 101 soft call protection for six months, according to a market source.

Commitments are due on April 9, the source said.

UBS Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Deutsche Bank Securities, Jeffries LLC, KKR Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc. and RBC Capital Markets are leading the loan that will be used with $750 million of other secured debt and $1,375,000,000 of unsecured debt to refinance existing indebtedness, including $1 billion of unsecured bonds that are expected to be taken out at the make-whole provision under the current indenture, and to fund a dividend.

Pro forma adjusted net secured leverage will be 3.5 times, and total net leverage will be 4.7 times.

Staples is a Framingham, Mass.-based business supplies distributor.

Six Flags launches

Six Flags released price talk of Libor plus 200 bps with a 0% Libor floor and an original issue discount of 99 on its $800 million seven-year term loan B that launched with a late-morning lender call, a market source said.

The term loan has 101 soft call protection for six months.

In addition to the term loan B, the company plans on getting a new revolver with a targeted size of $350 million.

Commitments are due at noon ET on April 9.

Wells Fargo Securities LLC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Goldman Sachs Bank USA and J.P. Morgan Securities are leading the deal (Ba1/BBB-) that will be used to refinance an existing revolver and term loan B.

Six Flags is a Grand Prairie, Tex.-based regional theme park company.

Direct ChassisLink details

Direct ChassisLink hosted its bank meeting in the morning and launched an $850 million seven-year covenant-lite term loan (Caa1/B+) at talk of Libor plus 725 bps to 750 bps with a 0% Libor floor, an original issue discount of 99, and hard call protection of 102 in year one and 101 in year two, according to a market source.

Commitments are due at 5 p.m. ET on April 4, the source said.

Citigroup Global Markets, Barclays, RBC Capital Markets, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities and MUFG are leading the deal that will be used to help fund the buyout of the company by Apollo Global Management LLC from EQT Infrastructure, who will retain a 20% minority stake.

Closing is expected in early/mid-April, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Direct ChassisLink is a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of domestic and marine chassis to the intermodal supply chain.

E.W. Scripps guidance

E.W. Scripps came out with talk of Libor plus 300 bps to 325 bps with a 0% Libor floor and an original issue discount of 99 on its $525 million seven-year covenant-lite incremental term loan B (Ba3/BB/BB+) that launched with a morning lender call, a market source remarked.

The incremental loan has 101 soft call protection for six months.

Commitments are due at 3 p.m. ET on April 4.

Wells Fargo Securities, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding and SunTrust are leading the deal that will be used to fund the $521 million acquisition of 15 television stations in 10 markets from Cordillera Communications.

Closing is expected in the second quarter, subject to customary conditions.

Net secured leverage is 2.5 times, and net total leverage is 3.7 times.

E.W. Scripps is a Cincinnati-based broadcasting and digital media company.

Greenhill proposed terms

Greenhill launched on its morning call its $360 million five-year first-lien term loan (Ba2/BB) at talk of Libor plus 325 bps to 350 bps with a 0% Libor floor, an original issue discount of 99 and 101 soft call protection for one year, a market source said.

Commitments are due on April 9, the source added.

Goldman Sachs Bank USA is leading the deal that will be used to refinance the company’s existing first-lien term loan and to fund cash to the balance sheet.

Greenhill is a New York-based independent investment bank.

Lonestar sets price talk

Lonestar II Generation Holdings revealed talk of Libor plus 500 bps with a 0% Libor floor, an original issue discount of 98 and 101 soft call protection for six months on its $250 million seven-year covenant-lite term loan B and $30 million seven-year covenant-lite term loan C that launched with a lenders’ presentation in the morning, according to a market source.

Commitments are due on April 9, the source said.

Morgan Stanley Senior Funding is leading the senior secured deal (Ba3) that will be used to fund a cash collateralized letter-of-credit account, fund a distribution to the Lonestar Generation LLC balance sheet and pay transaction fees and expenses.

Lonestar II Generation is the owner of a roughly 1.1 GW portfolio of three thermal power generation assets located in Texas and serving the Ercot market.

Servpro readies deal

Servpro expects to hold a bank meeting next week to launch $440 million of term loans, split between a $315 million first-lien term loan and a $125 million second-lien term loan, a market source remarked.

Jefferies LLC, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) and Deutsche Bank Securities are leading the deal that will be used to help fund the acquisition of a majority stake in the company by Blackstone. The company’s founders, the Isaacson family, will be re-investing alongside Blackstone and will continue to be significant shareholders in the business going forward.

Servpro is a Gallatin, Tenn.-based franchisor of residential and commercial property damage restoration services.

Carbonite closes

In other news, Carbonite Inc. completed its acquisition of Webroot Inc., a Broomfield, Colo.-based cybersecurity company, for about $618.5 million, a news release said.

To help fund the transaction, Carbonite got a new $550 million seven-year senior secured term loan B (B1/B) priced at Libor plus 375 bps with a 0% Libor floor and sold at an original issue discount of 99. The loan has 101 soft call protection for six months.

During syndication, pricing on the term loan was lowered from talk in the range of Libor plus 400 bps to 425 bps; the discount was changed from 98.5; the MFN was revised to 50 bps for life from 50 bps MFN for 12 months and applies to all pari debt including incremental equivalent; the dividend restricted payment basket was reduced to $30 million from $60 million; and the ratio baskets were changed to up to 4 times secured net leverage and up to 6 times total net leverage, from up to 4.25 times secured net leverage and up to 6.5 times total net leverage.

Barclays, Citizens Bank, RBC Capital Markets and HSBC Securities (USA) led the loan.

Carbonite is a Boston-based cloud-based data protection provider.

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