Hony’s PizzaExpress issues £610m of bonds

Hony acquired PizzaExpress in mid-July for £900m, equivalent to 10x EBITDA.

The company will sell the bonds through two units, Twinkle Pizza Holdings and Twinkle Pizza. Twinkle Pizza Holdings will issue £200m in senior notes with a bi-annual 8.625% coupon, due to mature on 1 August 2022. Twinkle Pizza will issue £410m in senior secured notes with a bi-annual 6.625% coupon, to mature on 1 August 2021.

The larger of the two units, Twinkle Pizza, will also issue a £20m super senior revolving credit facility.

Moody's has assigned the PizzaExpress holding company, Twinkle Pizza Holdings, with a bond credit rating of B3 due to the business's sensitivity to consumer spending and the fact that it has reported negative like-for-like sales for the three financial years up until 2013. For the 2014 full financial year, like-for-like sales became positive with a 2.8% increase.

JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are acting as joint underwriters for the placing. Weil Gotshal & Manges advised the underwriters.

According to S&P, year-to-date high-yield bond issuance stands at €51bn, a significant increase on last year's €39bn for the same period.

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• Topics
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• United Kingdom
• Cinven
• Hony Capital