Crown Castle breaks atop par; Interline Brands sets talk; New Wave upsizes, cuts spreads

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, June 1 - Crown Castle Operating Co.'s credit facility freed for trading during Thursday's market hours, with the term loan seen bouncing around throughout the low-to-mid-par area.

Meanwhile, in primary happenings, Interline Brands Inc. released price talk on its credit facility as the deal was presented to lenders through a conference call and New Wave Communications increased the size of its credit facility, while cutting pricing on all tranches.

Crown Castle allocated its credit facility on Thursday, to then watch its $1 billion eight-year term loan bounce around in trading throughout the session before settling around the par 3/8 bid, par 5/8 offered context, according to traders.

Immediately on the break the term loan was quoted at par ¼ bid, par ½ offered; it then traded as low as par 1/8 bid, par 3/8 offered and as high as par ½ bid, par ¾ offered, one trader remarked.

The term loan is priced with an interest rate of Libor plus 225 basis points. At launch the deal was talked at Libor plus 200 to 225 basis points, but pricing firmed up at the high end of guidance during the syndication process.

Crown Castle's $1.25 billion credit facility (B1/BB) also contains a $250 million 364-day revolver with an interest rate of Libor plus 200 basis points. This tranche has been expected to price 25 basis points inside of the term loan since the deal was first launched into the market.

Morgan Stanley and RBS Securities acted as joint lead arrangers on the deal, with Morgan Stanley the left lead.

Proceeds were used in part to repay the company's existing revolving credit facility, under which $295 million was outstanding at the time of repayment, and are expected to be used in part to fund the previously announced planned acquisition of Mountain Union Telecom LLC for about $309 million.

The balance of the proceeds is expected to be available for general corporate purposes, including purchases of Crown Castle International Corp.'s common shares.

The revolver was undrawn at closing, which was announced on Thursday as well.

"We are excited to have completed the new facility, which has moved us back to the top end of our targeted total debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage range," said Ben Moreland, chief financial officer, in a company news release. "The completion of this facility reaffirms our commitment to leveraging the growth in our business, enabling us to make investments that we believe will maximize long-term recurring cash flow per share."

Crown Castle is a Houston-based owner, operator and manager of wireless communications sites. Mountain Union is an Alexandria, Va.-based owner, operator and manager of wireless communications sites.

Interline Brands price talk

Switching to the primary, Interline Brands came out with price talk on its $355 million credit facility as syndication on the deal officially kicked off with the holding of a conference call on Thursday afternoon, according to a market source.

The $125 million seven-year term loan, $130 million seven-year delayed-draw term loan and $100 million six-year revolver were all launched to lenders with opening price talk of Libor plus 175 basis points, the source said.

JPMorgan and Lehman are the lead banks on the deal, with JPMorgan the left lead.

Proceeds from the funded term loan and from a proposed $175 million senior subordinated note offering will be used to refinance the company's existing credit facility and to repurchase its outstanding 11½% senior subordinated notes due 2011.

The delayed-draw term loan will be used to finance the $127.5 million acquisition of American Sanitary Inc.

There is no fee for the delayed-draw term loan since it only lasts a few weeks until the acquisition closes, the source added.

Interline is a Jacksonville, Fla., distributor and direct marketer of specialty maintenance, repair and operations products.

New Wave tweaks deal

New Wave Communications upsized its credit facility through increases to both the funded and delayed-draw term loan pieces and reverse flexed pricing on all tranches contained in the deal, according to a market source.

Under the changes, the funded term loan B was upsized to $95 million from an original size of $90 million and the delayed-draw term loan was upsized to $30 million from an original size of $25 million, the source said.

In addition, pricing on the funded term loan B, the delayed-draw term loan and the $25 million revolver (size unchanged) was reduced to Libor plus 325 basis points from original talk at launch of Libor plus 350 basis points, the source added.

General Electric Capital Corp. and Wachovia are the lead banks on the now $150 million deal.

Proceeds from the credit facility will be used to fund the acquisition of Charter Communications, Inc. systems that are located in Southern Illinois and Kentucky. The systems represent approximately 115,000 RGUs, including 76,000 analog video, 26,000 digital video customers and 13,000 high-speed internet customers.

New Wave is a Dexter, Mo., cable television, high-speed internet, and digital telephone service provider primarily in small and mid-sized communities in the Midwest and Southeast United States.

Silgan closes

Silgan Holdings Inc. closed on its €200 million term loan (Ba2/BB+) that is priced with an interest rate of Libor plus 112.5 basis points.

Deutsche Bank acted as lead arranger on the deal.

Proceeds were used to fund the acquisition of the Amcor White Cap closures business in Europe for €185.8 million, including assumed debt of €11.8 million.

This combined business, which will operate under the name Silgan White Cap, is a supplier of an extensive range of metal closures to consumer goods packaging companies in the food and beverage industries in Europe, Asia and South America. The European business, which had sales of €195.6 million for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2005, has headquarters in Hanover, Germany, and operates manufacturing facilities in Germany, Poland and Italy.

Silgan is a Stamford, Conn., manufacturer of consumer goods packaging products.

Education Management closes

Providence Equity Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners have completed their acquisition of Education Management Corp. in a transaction valued at about $3.4 billion, according to a company news release.

To help fund the transaction, Education Management got a $1.485 billion credit facility (B2/B) consisting of a $1.185 billion seven-year term loan B with an interest rate of Libor plus 250 basis points, and a $300 million six-year revolver with an interest rate of Libor plus 225 basis points and a 50 basis point commitment fee.

Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse acted as joint bookrunners on the deal, with Goldman the left lead. In addition to these two lead banks, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America were underwriters on the deal.

Education Management is a Pittsburgh-based provider of private post-secondary education.

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