Akumin, Prime Healthcare, Aspen notes price; loanDepot in focus; Unisys sees 103-handle

By Paul A. Harris and Abigail W. Adams

Portland, Me., Oct. 23 – The domestic high-yield primary market saw three issues price during Friday’s session.

Akumin Inc. priced an upsized $400 million issue of five-year senior secured notes (B3/B-), and Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. priced an upsized $700 million issue of five-year senior secured notes (B2/B-/B).

Aspen Insurance’s $500 million issue of Highlands Holdings Bond Issuer, Ltd. and Highlands Holdings Bond Co-Issuer, Inc. 7 5/8%/8 3/8% five-year senior secured PIK toggle notes also cleared the market.

While Multi-Color Corp./LABL Intermediate Holding Corp., Advantage Sales & Marketing Inc. and Sizzling Platter, LLC were slated to price offerings on Friday, final terms were not available as off press time.

Meanwhile, the secondary space was quiet on Friday with the market continuing to move sideways on light volume, sources said.

New deals and earnings-related news were the driving force of trading activity.

loanDepot’s 6½% senior notes due 2025 were in focus with the notes putting in a strong performance in the secondary space.

Unisys Corp.’s 6 7/8% senior secured notes due 2027 (B2/BB-) jumped in active trading with the notes climbing to a 103-handle.

Outside of recent deals, Cleveland-Cliffs, Inc.’s senior notes were making gains on the heels of better-than-expected earnings reports.

Friday’s primary

Akumin, Aspen Insurance and Prime Healthcare Services priced high-yield bonds on Friday.

The Aspen deal, $500 million issue of Highlands Holdings Bond Issuer and Highlands Holdings Bond Co-Issuer 7 5/8%/8 3/8% five-year senior secured PIK toggle notes, with part of the proceeds used to fund a distribution, came at the tight end of talk.

The second of the week’s two PIK toggle holdco dividend deals, the Multi-Color Corp./LABL Intermediate Holding $500 million offering of five-year senior PIK toggle notes, was pending at press time, although it was expected Friday business. Initial talk had it coming with a cash coupon in the low 12% area with an additional 75 basis points for PIK.

Look for terms possibly late Friday night, a bond trader advised.

Also pending at press time was the Advantage Sales & Marketing upsized $775 million offering (from $500 million) of eight-year secured notes, which were heard to be coming at 6½%, wide of talk in the 6¼% area.

On Thursday the order book was heard to be slightly above the pre-upsize amount.

Also pending at press time, on a busy Friday in the primary market, was Sizzling Platter’s $325 million offering of five-year senior secured notes (B3//B-), which was talked to yield 7¾% to 8% on Thursday.

loanDepot eyed

loanDepot’s 6½% senior notes due 2025 were in focus on Friday with the notes trading with a large premium in high-volume activity.

The 6½% notes were marked at 101 7/8 bid, 102¼ offered in the late afternoon.

The notes, which priced late in Thursday’s session, saw more than $93 million in reported volume.

The 6½% notes played to heavy demand during bookbuilding with the issue upsizing and pricing tighter than talk.

The supplier of mortgage and non-mortgage lending products priced an upsized $500 million, from $400 million, issue of the 6½% notes at par on Thursday.

The yield printed tighter than yield talk in the 6¾% area. Initial talk was 7% to 7¼%.

Unisys on a 103-handle

Unisys’ 6 7/8% senior secured notes due 2027 rocketed to a 103-handle in active trading on Friday.

The 6 7/8% notes were changing hands in the 103 to 103½ context in the late afternoon.

There were more than $43 million of the bonds on the tape.

The deal was also a blowout with the issue upsizing and pricing 25 bps through talk.

The coupon was a solid one for secured paper, especially in a low-yield environment.

The IT services provider priced an upsized $485 million, from $400 million, issue of the 6 7/8% notes at par on Thursday.

Pricing came tighter than talk in the 7¼% area. Initial guidance was in the 7¼% to 7½% area.

Cleveland-Cliffs gains

Cleveland-Cliffs’ senior notes were posting gains after the mining company posted better-than-expected earnings.

The capital structure was up 1 to 3 points in active trading on Friday, a source said.

Cleveland-Cliffs’ 5 7/8% senior notes due 2027 gained almost 3 points to trade up to 97½, a source said.

The 6¾% notes rose 2 points to 107.

The 9 7/8% notes due 2025 were up 1¾ point to 116¼.

Thursday outflows

The dedicated high-yield bond funds sustained $711 million of net outflows on Thursday, the most recent session for which data was available at press time, according to a market source.

High-yield ETFs sustained $776 million of outflows on the day.

Actively managed high-yield funds were positive, seeing $65 million of inflows on Thursday, the source said.

News of Thursday's daily flows follows a Thursday report that the combined funds saw $151 million of inflows in the week to the Wednesday, Oct. 21 close, according to the Refinitiv Lipper Fund Flow Report Newsline.

The combined funds have seen $42.3 billion of net inflows in the year to Thursday's close, according to the market source.

Indexes gain

Indexes closed Friday with nominal gains. However, they were largely flat on the week.

The KDP High Yield Daily index rose 3 bps to close Friday at 66.79 with the yield 5.37%.

The index was up 2 bps on Thursday, slipped 3 bps on Wednesday, was flat on Tuesday and gained 2 bps on Monday.

The index posted a cumulative gain of 4 bps on the week.

The ICE BofAML US High Yield index rose 8.1 bps with the year-to-date return now 12.59%.

The index was up 0.7 bps on Thursday, shaved off 3.2 bps on Wednesday and gained 2.8 bps on Tuesday and 10.1 bps on Monday.

The index was up 18.5 bps on the week.

The CDX High Yield 30 index gained 10 bps to close Friday at 105.75.

The index rose 2 bps on Thursday, 3 bps on Wednesday and 27 bps on Tuesday after dropping 41 bps on Monday.

The index posted a cumulative gain of 1 bp on the week.

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