Financing
Acquisition finance: breaking with tradition
Acquisition finance
Barclays goes direct with BlueBay
Barclays and BlueBay Asset Management have teamed up to provide acquisition finance for UK private equity deals.
Acquisition finance: alternative thinking
Despite bringing much-needed liquidity and competition to the debt market, many GPs are still wary of alternative lenders. Alice Murray pits traditional lenders against these alternatives to find out which has the upper hand.
GE Capital and Ares refinance Astorg's Ethypharm
GE Capital and Ares Management have provided Astorg Partners portfolio company Ethypharm with a €170m unitranche facility.
Partners Group raises $800m for debt programme
Partners Group has raised more than $800m for its senior secured leverage loan-focused Private Market Credit Strategies and private debt mandates.
JZCP targets Spain with new joint venture Toro Finance
Listed private equity fund JZ Capital Partners (JZCP) has teamed up with Avenue Capital Group to launch a new €400m finance company in Spain.
Ardian provides unitranche for Européenne des Desserts buyout
Ardian (formerly Axa Private Equity) has arranged a €70m unitranche facility to finance Equistone's buyout of Européenne des Desserts from Azulis Capital and Céréa Partenaire.
Babson Capital provides mezz for Teachers’ Busy Bees
Babson Capital Europe has provided a mezzanine facility to support the £220m acquisition of UK nursery chain Busy Bees by Teachers’ Private Capital last week.
Ardian arranges €275m unitranche facility for Flexitallic SBO
Ardian (formerly Axa Private Equity) has arranged a €275m multi-currency unitranche facility to finance the €450m buyout of Flexitallic by Bridgepoint, in what marks the first investment for Ardian's Private Debt Fund III vehicle.
Lloyds, HSBC, GE team up for Côte funding
CBPE’s acquisition of Côte Restaurants earlier this month received debt financing from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking’s Acquisition Finance team, the HSBC Leveraged Finance team and GE Capital.
3i closes €310m CLO
3i Debt Management has closed its first European collateralised loan obligation (CLO) vehicle, Harvest VII, on €310m.
Earlybird’s Nagel on Germany’s new stock market tier
Christian Nagel, partner and co-founder of Earlybird Venture Capital, speaks to Kim Richters about plans for the new stock market tier in Germany, proposed to aid financing prospects for start-ups
Beringea makes debt move with Mark Taylor hire
Mark Taylor, Beringea
KKR dives into maritime debt void
KKR has established Maritime Finance Company, a new business focused on the lending gap in the European shipping market.
Pamplona to leverage OGF purchase with €635m debt package
The recently announced buyout of French funeral services operator OGF by Pamplona will be financed by a €635m debt package, according to media reports.
Lion's Picard issues €480m floating rate note
Picard Surgelés, a French portfolio company of Lion Capital, has issued a €480m floating rate note to refinance part of its debt.
Alternative lenders outpace Business Bank
The UK government’s Business Bank has dished out only £300m in SME loans since inception, compared with £345m provided by alternative lenders in short-term secured loans.
Refinancings drive activity in loan market
Portfolio company refinancings accounted for 63% of loans issued across Europe in the first half of this year, while M&A activity made up just 32% of the total.
S&P launches mid-market assesment service
As banks continue to hold back lending for mid-market companies, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has launched a European credit benchmark for the neglected market segment.
High-yield Q&A: Lloyds' Ian Brown and David Whiteley
High-yield Q&A
Major refinancing underway for Eurazeo's Elis
Elis, a French professional clothing business owned by Eurazeo, has placed a €450m high-yield bond as part of a significant refinancing effort.
France's Elior and Nord-Est in refinancings
Charterhouse's catering business Elior has tapped into the high-yield market to raise €350m, while Oaktree has been able to reap a dividend by leveraging its investment in packaging company Nord-Est, according to local reports.
New Look launches £800m bond offering
Apax- and Permira-backed New Look Group has launched an £800m senior secured notes offering to pay down its debt.