Green Valley, ProQuest break; DaVita, Hanesbrands dip on repricing; Charter softens; Longview sets talk

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, Feb. 9 - In secondary happenings Friday, Green Valley Ranch Gaming LLC and ProQuest Information and Learning freed for trading, DaVita Inc. and Hanesbrands Inc. traded lower as the companies announced repricing plans, and Charter Communications Inc.'s term loan B weakened as refinancing news hit the market.

Meanwhile, in the primary, Longview Power, LLC price talk emerged now that the official launch of the deal has taken place.

Green Valley Ranch Gaming's credit facility freed for trading on Friday, with the $550 million term loan B (B1/B+) quoted at 101 1/8 bid, 101½ offered and the $250 million second-lien term loan (Caa1/CCC+) quoted at 101¾ bid, 102¼ offered, according to a trader.

The first-lien term loan B is priced at Libor plus 200 bps. During syndication, the tranche was upsized from $500 million and pricing was reverse flexed from original talk of Libor plus 250 bps.

The second-lien term loan is priced at Libor plus 325 bps. During syndication, the tranche was downsized from $300 million and pricing was reverse flexed from original talk of Libor plus 350 bps.

Green Valley's $830 million senior secured credit facility also includes a $30 million revolver (B1/B+).

Bank of America is the lead bank on the deal that is being used by the Henderson, Nev., resort to refinance existing bank debt and to pay a special dividend to the company owners.

ProQuest frees to trade

ProQuest Information and Learning's credit facility broke for trading during Friday's market hours with the $240 million first-lien term loan quoted at par 7/8 bid, 101 3/8 offered and the $60 million second-lien term loan quoted at 101 7/8 bid, 102 3/8 offered, according to a trader.

The first-lien term loan is priced at Libor plus 300 bps. During syndication, pricing firmed up at the low end of original talk of Libor plus 300 to 325 bps.

The second-lien term loan is priced at Libor plus 575 bps. During syndication, pricing was flexed down from original talk at launch that was in the Libor plus 650 bps area.

ProQuest's $340 million credit facility also includes a $40 million revolver that is priced at Libor plus 300 bps. Like the first-lien term loan, pricing on this tranche firmed up at the low end of original talk of Libor plus 300 to 325 bps during syndication.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are the lead banks on the deal that will be used to fund Cambridge Information Group's acquisition of ProQuest Information and Learning from ProQuest Co. for about $222 million.

ProQuest Information is an Ann Arbor, Mich., collector, organizer and publisher of information for researchers, faculty and students in libraries and schools. Cambridge Information Group is a Bethesda, Md., privately owned group of information services companies and educational institutions.

DaVita lower with repricing

DaVita's term loan B gave up some ground in trading on Friday as the company announced that it would be seeking a 50 bps repricing of the debt, according to a trader.

The term loan B ended the day at par 3/8 bid, par 7/8 offered, down from par ¾ bid, 101 offered, the trader said.

Under the repricing, the company is looking to take the term loan B spread down to Libor plus 150 bps from Libor plus 200 bps.

JPMorgan is the lead bank on the transaction that it will launch with a conference call Monday.

The current outstanding balance on the term loan B is $2.106 billion; however, on Friday, the company announced plans to repay some of its term loan debt using proceeds from a proposed offering of $400 million senior notes due 2013.

Following the news, Moody's Investors Service upgraded DaVita's credit facility to Ba1 from Ba2 and Standard & Poor's revised its credit facility rating to BB, one notch higher than the corporate credit rating.

Moody's said that the upgrade reflects the improvement in the company's credit quality following the acquisition of Gambro Healthcare, as it outpaced expectations for cash flow, EBITDA and debt reduction.

S&P said it revised Davita's rating because of the debt repayment announced Friday and other debt prepayments that were made in the past.

DaVita is an El Segundo, Calif., operator of dialysis centers.

Hanesbrands trades down

Hanesbrands' term loan B also came under some pressure Friday as the company launched a repricing that would lower the term loan B spread to Libor plus 175 bps from Libor plus 225 bps, according to a trader.

The term loan B closed the day at par 7/8 bid, 101 1/8 offered, down from previous levels of 101 1/8 bid, 101½ offered, the trader said.

Citigroup is the administrative agent on the repricing that will also include the addition of 101 soft call protection for one year.

Hanesbrands is a Winston-Salem, N.C., apparel company.

Windstream holds steady

Meanwhile, Windstream Corp., which also came out with news of a repricing, saw its term loan B levels hold steady, according to a trader.

The term loan ended the session at par ¾ bid, 101 1/8 offered, unchanged on the day, the trader said.

Under the repricing, the company is looking to lower its term loan spread to Libor plus 150 bps from Libor plus 175 bps.

JPMorgan is the administrative agent on the deal.

Windstream is a Little Rock, Ark.-based provider of voice, broadband and entertainment services.

Charter off on refinancing

Charter was another name that saw its term loan B weaken during Friday's market hours, with news of an upcoming refinancing deal being the impetus behind the drop, according to a trader.

The term loan B ended the day at par 7/8 bid, 101 1/8 offered, down from 101¼ bid, 101½ offered, the trader said.

"I think a lot of people are expecting to just roll into the new deal; that's why it didn't drop all the way to par," the trader added.

Early Friday morning, Charter announced plans for an $8.05 billion senior secured credit facility that would refinance its $6.85 billion senior secured credit facility, redeem up to $550 million floating-rate notes due 2010 issued by CCO Holdings, LLC and up to $187 million 8.625% senior notes due 2009 issued by Charter Communications Holdings, LLC, and be used for general corporate purposes.

The facility, which is launching with a conference call on Wednesday, consists of a $1.5 billion revolver, a $6 billion first-lien term loan - of which $1 billion is new debt and $5 billion is refinancing - talked at Libor plus 225 bps and a $550 million second-lien term loan talked at Libor plus 250 bps, sources said.

Sources also said that the first-lien term loan debt is expected to be launched with 101 call protection for one year.

JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup are the lead banks on the refinancing transaction for the St. Louis-based broadband communications company.

Longview price talk

Moving to the primary, Longview Power price talk surfaced as the company is officially in full syndication mode on its $1.1 billion credit facility (Ba3/BB-) after holding a bank meeting on Thursday afternoon in New York to present the deal, according to a market source.

All tranches - the $100 million revolver, $250 million construction term loan, $100 million synthetic letter-of-credit facility, $350 million delayed-draw term loan and $300 million term loan B - were launched with price talk of Libor plus 250 bps, the source said.

The revolver and the construction term loan have an undrawn fee of 50 bps. The construction loan is expected to be drawn up in 2008.

The delayed-draw term loan has a delayed-draw period of 24 months but is expected to be almost entirely drawn within the first 12 months, the source remarked. The undrawn fee on this tranche is 75 bps for the first six months, with step ups by 25 bps every six months thereafter.

Goldman Sachs and WestLB are the lead banks on the deal, with Goldman the left lead.

Proceeds will be used to fund the construction of the Longview 769 megawatt supercritical, pulverized coal-fired generating facility located in Maidsville, W.Va.

The power plant will have a five-year power and capacity purchase agreement with PPL.

First Reserve Corp. is the financial sponsor.

Arizona Chemical overfills

Arizona Chemical's credit facility is already oversubscribed at talk, meaning commitments poured in rather quickly since the bank meeting to launch the deal just took place on Feb. 1, according to a market source.

The $426 million credit facility consists of a $50 million revolver (B1/B) talked at Libor plus 250 bps, a $140 million first-lien U.S. term loan B (B1/B) talked at Libor plus 250 bps, a $100 million first-lien euro equivalent term loan B (B1/B) talked at Euribor plus 250 bps and a $136 million second-lien term loan (Caa1/CCC+) talked at Libor plus 600 bps.

The second-lien term loan carries call protection of 102 in year one and 101 in year two.

Goldman Sachs is the lead bank on the deal, which will be used to help fund Rhone Capital III LP's buyout of the company from International Paper for about $485 million.

As part of the transaction, International Paper will acquire a minority interest of about 10% in the acquisition vehicle to be formed by Rhone Capital.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter, subject to certain customary closing conditions.

Leverage through the first lien will be roughly 3.2 times, and total leverage will be roughly 5 times.

Arizona Chemical is a Jacksonville, Fla., supplier of pine chemicals to the adhesives, inks and coatings and oleochemicals markets.

Valley National narrows talk

Valley National Gases Inc. has revised price talk on its $50 million six-year revolver and $165 million seven-year first-lien term loan to Libor plus 225 bps from original talk of Libor plus 225 to 250 bps now that Ba3/B+ ratings have emerged on the tranches, according to a market source.

Price talk on the $75 million 71/2-year second-lien term loan (B3/CCC+) is still set at Libor plus 600 bps, the source added.

The revolver has a 50 bps unused fee.

Credit Suisse, UBS and Morgan Stanley are the lead banks on the $290 million senior secured deal that launched with a bank meeting this past Tuesday, with Credit Suisse the left lead.

Proceeds will be used to help fund Caxton-Iseman Capital's leveraged buyout of the company in a transaction valued at about $312 million, including about $249 million to purchase outstanding shares and the assumption of debt.

Valley National is a Washington, Pa., packager and distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases, welding equipment and supplies, propane and fire protection equipment.

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