Ancestry term loan frees to trade; WS Audiology breaks following structural tweaks

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, Aug. 22 – Ancestry.com Operations Inc.’s new seven-year term loan B made its way into the secondary market on Thursday and was seen bid in line with its original issue discount.

Also, WS Audiology (Auris Luxembourg III SA) reduced the size of its add-on term loan B-2 and added a pre-placed euro add-on term loan B-1 to its transaction, and then broke for trading in the afternoon.

Ancestry hits secondary

Ancestry’s $1,384,829,692 seven-year covenant-lite term loan B (B2/B) began trading on Thursday, with levels quoted at 99 bid, 99˝ offered, according to a trader.

Pricing on the seven-year term loan is Libor plus 425 basis points with a step-down and a 0% Libor floor. The debt was sold at an original issue discount of 99 and has 101 soft call protection for six months.

During syndication, the seven-year term loan size was changed from a revised amount of $950 million and an initial size of $1.15 billion, pricing was increased from Libor plus 400 bps, the discount was set at the wide end of the 99 to 99.5 talk and the MFN sunset was extended to 24 months from 18 months.

The inside maturity basket was not decreased during syndication.

Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., KKR Capital Markets, Barclays, BofA Securities, Inc., RBC Capital Markets and UBS Investment Bank are leading on the deal. JPMorgan is the administrative agent.

Ancestry use of proceeds

Ancestry will use its new seven-year term loan and cash on the balance sheet will be used to repay a portion of its existing non-extended $1.75 billion term loan B (B2/B) due Oct. 19, 2023, to fund a dividend to shareholders, and pay fees and expenses.

With this transaction, the non-extended term loan B will end up with $719,599,601 outstanding and pricing on the debt will be increased to Libor plus 375 bps with a step-down from Libor plus 325 bps.

The change to the non-extended term loan pricing was announced when the company increased pricing on its new seven-year term loan.

Closing is expected on Monday.

Ancestry is a Lehi, Utah-based online family history resource.

WS Audiology reworked

WS Audiology trimmed its add-on senior secured covenant-lite term loan B-2 due February 2026 to $75 million from $100 million and will now get a €67.5 million pre-placed add-on term loan B-1 due February 2026 as part of this transaction, a market source remarked.

As before, the add-on term loan B-2 is priced at Libor plus 375 bps with a 0% Libor floor, in line with the existing term loan B-2, and has an original issue discount of 98.51.

Previously in syndication, the discount on the add-on term loan B-2 was changed from 99.5.

Pricing on the add-on term loan B-1 is Euribor plus 400 bps with a 0% floor, which matches existing term loan B-1 pricing, and the new debt was issued at a discount of 99.75.

Recommitments were due at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, the source continued.

WS Audiology frees up

Late in the session, WS Audiology’s add-on term loan B-2 broke for trading and levels were quoted at 98˝ bid, 99 offered, another source added.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are leading the deal that will be used for general corporate purposes, including strategic mergers and acquisitions. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. is the administrative agent.

Closing is expected on Aug. 30.

WS Audiology is a pure play producer of hearing aids and accessories with headquarters in Lynge, Denmark, and Singapore.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.