previous holders of Srei Equip Finance
bonds and equity, senior citizens and
existing employees of Srei Group.
The issue opened on August 19 and
closes on September 18.
The equipment financier’s bonds offer
another avenue for savings with growing
pressure on fixed deposit interest rates
coupled with volatility in the equities
market, said Devendra Kumar Vyas,
managing director of Srei Equipment
Finance, in a release.
The notes are rated AA– by Acuite and
AA by Brickwork.
Karvy Investment Banking and SMC Capitals
are lead arrangers for the bond issue.
SYNDICATED LOANS
› ESSEL PROPACK BUYOUT LOAN LAUNCHES
A five-year loan of up to US$170m backing
private equity giant Blackstone Group LP’s
leveraged buyout of India’s Essel Propack
has been launched into general syndication.
Goldman Sachs, Investec, Standard Chartered
and UBS are the mandated lead arrangers
and bookrunners of the financing.
The loan offers all-in pricing in the low
to mid-300s and has an average life of 4.9
years.
Banks joining with tickets of US$20m
or more earn a 175bp upfront fee, while
those with commitments of US$15m–$19m
receive 150bp. Tickets of US$10m–$14m
earn a 125bp fee.
Shares of the target will form the
collateral for the loan, which represents
leverage of 3.9 times.
EPSILON BIDCO PTE, the acquiring entity, is
the borrower of the LBO loan.
Commitments are due by September 27.
On April 22, Blackstone announced its
agreement to buy 51% of Essel Propack,
which is listed on the Indian stock
exchanges, for Rs21.57bn (US$302m) from
Ashok Goel Trust.
The purchase of the 51% shareholding
triggered a mandatory open offer for an
additional 26% stake in the target company
under India’s takeover code.
The open offer closed on August 9, and
the transaction is expected to be completed
in the coming months, according to a stock
exchange filing from Essel Propack on
August 13.
Ashok Goel Trust will retain a minority
stake in Essel Propack.
Founded in 1982, Essel Propack
manufactures collapsible laminated and
plastic tubes through its 20 factories across
10 countries – China, India, the Philippines,
Egypt, Germany, Poland, Russia, the US,
Mexico and Colombia. The company
produces seven billion laminated tubes
annually.
(A Blackstone-led consortium owns a 55% stake
in Refinitiv, the parent of LPC and IFR.)› TATA SONS RETURNS FOR US$500M LOANTATA SONS has raised a US$500m four-
year facility, returning to the offshore
syndicated loans market in less than a year.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, DBS Bank,
Export Development Canada, Mizuho Bank,
MUFG, Scotiabank, Standard Chartered Bank
and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp joined as
mandated lead arrangers of the deal, which
closed as a club. All banks committed
US$62.5m apiece.
The loan, which will be used for general
corporate purposes, is said to have paid
all-in pricing of 115bp over Libor.
Last September, the borrower raised a
US$1.5bn multi-tranche loan, which met
with a lacklustre response from the market.
ANZ, BAML, BNP Paribas, Citigroup,
Credit Agricole, EDC, First Abu Dhabi
Bank, Mizuho, MUFG, Societe Generale,
StanChart and State Bank of India were the
MLABs of the deal, which attracted only
Mega International Commercial Bank in
syndication.
The previous financing is split between
maturities of four, five and six years, and
paid a top-level blended all-in pricing of
103bp, 104bp and 113.7bp respectively
based on a blended average interest margin
of 90bp over Libor and a blended average
life of five years.
Separately, Tata Capital Housing Finance
is seeking a US$75m 38-month loan. CTBC
Bank, FAB and HSBC are the mandated
lead arrangers and bookrunners of the
deal, which pays a top-level all-in pricing
of 130bp based on a margin of 100bp over
Libor.
TCHFL is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Tata Capital, which in turn is a unit of Tata
Sons.
Elsewhere, Tata Motors Finance, a
subsidiary of Tata Motors, is in the market
for a US$60m three-year loan with a
greenshoe of US$90m. Barclays and DBS
Bank are the MLABs of the bullet financing,
which pays a top-level all-in pricing of
200bp based on a margin of 190bp over
Libor.
Tata Sons is the principal investment
holding company of Tata Group.› INDUSIND LOAN STRUGGLESINDUSIND BANK’s US$320m three-year loan is
struggling in general syndication with only
one lender having joined so far despite the
deal offering richer pricing than a similar
borrowing last year.Citigroup, Commerzbank, First Abu Dhabi
Bank, HSBC, LBBW and MUFG are the
mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners
of the loan, which comes with a US$180m
greenshoe option.
Syndication was launched in early June
with an original deadline of July 10.
The facility pays a top-level all-in pricing
of 118.2bp based on an interest margin of
95bp over Libor and a remaining life of 2.67
years.
The pricing on the latest loan is richer
than IndusInd’s US$500m three-year loan
in May last year, which offered a top-level
all-in pricing of 105bp based on an interest
margin of 80bp over Libor and a remaining
life of 2.75 years.
Axis Bank, Barclays, Citigroup, FAB,
HSBC, Standard Chartered and State
Bank of India were the MLABs on that
deal, which attracted only three others in
general syndication.
The Mumbai-based private sector lender
reported a 62% fall in fourth quarter net
profit this May, due to higher provisions
for bad loans. Net profit fell to Rs3.6bn for
the quarter ending March 31, compared to
Rs9.53bn a year ago.RESTRUCTURING
› GCX EXTENDS FORBEARANCE PACTGCX said that bondholders have agreed
to extend a forbearance agreement to
September 1 while they discuss options to
restructure its debt.
The subsea-cable operator failed to repay
US$350m 7% senior secured bonds on
schedule on August 1.
It signed a forbearance agreement with
87% of its bondholders on July 31, under
which holders agreed not to take action
against the issuer for at least two weeks
while it negotiates, with an option to
extend by a further two weeks.
GCX is a wholly owned subsidiary
of India’s RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS, held
through Global Cloud Xchange (GCX) and
Reliance Globalcom. RCom is going through
insolvency proceedings in India, after facing
intense competition in the telecoms industry.
The GCX bonds are secured against assets
and equity interests of GCX and its key
subsidiaries, which generate most of the
group’s earnings.
Earlier this month, Moody’s cut the
company’s family rating to Ca from Caa1
and withdrew its rating on the bonds, while
Fitch cut GCX’s rating to C from CC and the
rating on the bonds to CCC– from CCC.
Bondholders will receive a 2% payment,
to be added to the principal of the bonds,
for signing the forbearance agreement,