4HEûlNANCINGûWILLûALSOûBEûUSEDûTOûPAYû
RELATEDûTRANSACTIONûFEESûANDûEXPENSES
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Societe
Generale and Credit Agricole CIB are physical
bookrunners, bookrunners and mandated
lead arrangers on the deal.
Goldman Sachs and HSBC are mandated
lead arranges and bookrunners.
A bank meeting will take place on
4UESDAYûINû,ONDONûANDûlNALûCOMMITMENTSû
are due by July 24.
M Group Services works across the
utilities, transport, telecoms and data
sectors in the UK and Ireland.
NETS SEEKS CONCARDIS MERGER LOAN.ORDICûPAYMENTSûTECHNOLOGYûGROUPûNETS
has launched a €475m incremental Term
Loan B.
The covenant-lite loan has the same
MATURITYûASû.ETSûEXISTINGûTERMûLOANûOFû
February 2025 but is a separate tranche to
it.
0ROCEEDSûBACKû.ETSûMERGERûWITHû
German peer Concardis and its €73m
acquisition of Poland’s Dotpay.
Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are
physical bookrunners.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse,
Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Nordea,
Nykredit and SEB are additional bookrunners.
.ETSûMERGERûWITHû#ONCARDISûCREATESûAû
group with over €1.3bn of revenues and
Ebitda of around €490m.
(ELLMANûû&RIEDMANûTOOKû.ETSûPRIVATEû
last year for US$5.3bn, one of the largest
European leveraged buyouts in years. It
brought leverage at the group to seven
times Ebitda of €393m.
Pro-forma leverage for this deal stands at
6.5 times Ebitda of €490m.
Bain Capital and Advent meanwhile
bought Concardis early last year for €700m.
Hellman’s holding in the combined
group will be diluted through the merger,
WITHû"AINûANDû!DVENTûRECEIVINGû.ETSû
shares for their holding in Concardis.
ASIA-PACIFIC
VOCUS CLOSES REFIAustralia’s fourth-largest phone company
VOCUS GROUP has closed a A$1.417bn-
EQUIVALENTû53BN ûRElNANCINGûWITHû
commitments from 12 banks in general
syndication.
ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia,
HSBC and National Australia Bank were the
mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners
OFûTHEûRElNANCING
Lead arranger is DBS, while co-arrangers
are SMBC, ING, Citibank and Credit Suisse.
Senior managers are State Bank of India,
Bank of China and Goldman Sachs. Managers
are Credit Industriel et Commercial, First
Commercial Bank, UBS and Siemens Bank.
The transaction comprises a A$510m-
equivalent 4.25-year bullet revolver
Tranche A, a A$510m-equivalent 3.25-year
BULLETûREVOLVERû4RANCHEû" ûAû.:Mû
(US$108m) 3.25-year bullet revolver
Tranche C, a A$75m-equivalent 2.25-year
bank guarantee and letter of credit
Tranche D and a A$175m 2.25-year
amortising Tranche E. Tranches B and C
WILLûAMENDûANDûEXTENDûEXISTINGûFACILITIES
Lenders were offered a top-level
participation fee of 65bp and a 10bp fee for
EXISTINGûCOMMITMENTS
The interest margins are based on a net
leverage ratio. The margins for Tranche A
are 300bp over BBSY/Libor (3.5 times or
more), 265bp (3.0–3.5 times), 230bp (2.5–
3.0 times), 190bp (2.0–2.5 times), 170bp
(1.5–2.0 times), 155bp (1.0–1.5 times) and
145bp (less than 1 times).
For the respective net leverage ranges,
Tranches B and C offer margins of 285bp,
250bp, 215bp, 175bp, 155bp, 140bp and
130bp. The benchmarks for Tranche B and
C are BBSY/Libor and BKBM, respectively.
Tranche E offers margins of 270bp,
235bp, 200bp, 160bp, 140bp, 125bp and
115bp over BBSY.
The initial margins are 230bp, 215bp,
215bp and 200bp for Tranches A, B, C and
E, respectively, based on the current let
LEVERAGEûOFûXnXû4RANCHEû$ûOFFERSûAû
margin of 135bp over BBSY/BKBM/Libor/
Sibor for all levels.
Vocus said on June 25 that the net
LEVERAGEûRATIOûONûTHEûRElNANCINGûHADûBEENû
AMENDEDûTOûPROVIDEûlNANCIALûHEADROOMû
ANDûmEXIBILITYû4HEûCOVENANTûRELATINGûTOûNETû
LEVERAGEûRATIOûALLOWSûFORûAûMAXIMUMûû
times at June 30 and December 31 this year,
3.50 times at June 30 and December 31 in
2019, 3.25 times at June 30 2020 and 3.00
times at December 31 2020 and thereafter.
The new facility has a weighted average
life of 3.4 years and covenants restrict
dividends from being paid until the net
leverage ratio is below 2.25 times for two
consecutive testing dates.
0ROCEEDSûFROMûTHEûNEWûLOANûRElNANCEDû
a multi-tranche loan of A$1.095bn and
.:MûCOMPLETEDûINû-AYû
The borrowers are Vocus Group, VOCUS
GROUP HOLDINGS, VOCUS (NEW ZEALAND) HOLDINGS
and M2 GROUP.EIGHT JOIN BELLE DIVIDEND RECAP!û(+BNû53BN ûlVE
YEARû
amortising loan for shoe retailer BELLE
INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS has attracted eight
banks in senior syndication.Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC
were the original mandated lead
arrangers, bookrunners and equal
underwriters of the loan, while Bank of
China, China Citic Bank International, China
Merchants Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corp,
DBS Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of
China, MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking
Corp joined as MLABs.
The ten MLABs signed the deal on June
ûANDûGENERALûSYNDICATIONûISûEXPECTEDûTOû
be launched soon.
4HEûBORROWINGûWILLûlNANCEûAû(+BNû
dividend recapitalisation and is also an
AMENDMENTûANDûEXTENSIONûOFû(+BNû
outstanding of a HK$28bn leveraged
BUYOUTûlNANCINGûCLOSEDûINû*UNEûLASTûYEAR
The deal has an average life of 4.4 years
and the interest margin is tied to a
leverage grid with the opening margin at
275bp over Libor.
The interest margin is tied to a leverage
grid with the opening margin at 275bp
over Libor for a debt-to-Ebitda ratio of
2.75–3.25 times. If leverage is higher than
3.25 times, the margin increases to 315bp
over Libor and for leverage of 2.25–2.75
times and less than 2.25 times, it steps
down to 225bp and 175bp respectively.
%XISTINGûLENDERSûAREûOFFEREDûAûCONSENTû
FEEûOFûBPûFORûTHEû!%ûEXERCISE ûWHICHû
involves a restating of the tenor, loosening
OFûCOVENANTSûANDûRELAXATIONûOFûRESTRICTIONSû
around the company’s future plans and
corporate actions.
Banks were invited to join the dividend
recapitalisation portion in sub-
underwriting as MLABs with tickets of
HK$3bn or above for participation fees of
100bp and early bird fees of 10bp,
translating to an all-in of 300bp.RESTRUCTURING
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/
AFRICACREDITORS APPROVE AGROKOR DEALThe creditors of AGROKOR, Croatia’s
indebted food producer and retailer, on
Wednesday voted to approve a debt
settlement deal that will help to resolve
the company’s troubles.
Agrokor, the largest private company in
the Balkans with 60,000 staff, was put
under state-run administration in April
2017, crippled by debts built up during an
AMBITIOUSûEXPANSIONûDRIVE
Its creditors include local and foreign
banks, bondholders and suppliers.