Shackleton, VNU, U.S. Shipping tweak deals; Oriental Trading, Revlon break; Jarden trades up

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, July 27 - Shackleton Re Ltd. reduced the size of its credit facility on Thursday while upsizing its recently added bond tranche, and finalized pricing and terms on all of the new debt. VNU NV also reworked its credit facility, shifting some funds between the dollar- and euro-denominated term loan B's and increasing pricing on the dollar tranche. And, U.S. Shipping Partners LP increased the size of its credit facility after decreasing the size of its bond deal.

In the secondary, Oriental Trading Co.'s credit facility freed for trading, with the first-lien term loan quoted atop par and the second-lien term loan quoted wrapped around 102. Also breaking Thursday was Revlon Consumer Products Corp.'s term loan B add-on, with levels quoted atop 102.

In other trading news, Jarden Corp.'s bank debt headed higher as the company put out better-than-expected financial results.

Shackleton, for the second time since launch, came out with some changes to its credit facility, including eliminating the term loan A tranche and raising all of those funds through a bond, downsizing and adding an original issue discount to the term loan C, and firming up pricing on everything, according to a market source.

The company opted to issue a $125 million 18-month floating-rate first event California earthquake bond A tranche with pricing of Libor plus 800 basis points instead of getting a $125 million two-year term loan A (BB) that carried the same pricing, the source said.

Originally, the company wasn't even contemplating doing a bond deal, but early last week, the syndicate decided to carve out up to $75 million of the term loan A into a floating-rate note and size the term loan A at a minimum of $50 million.

Being that the Rule 144A bond offering received significant interest, the term loan A was done away with altogether.

Meanwhile, the two-year second event U.S. hurricane and California earthquake term loan C (BB+) was downsized to $50 million from an original size at launch of $125 million, as the re-insurer found protection in other forms and therefore didn't need the funds, the source explained.

Pricing on the term loan C ended up at Libor plus 750 basis points, the high end of most recent guidance of Libor plus 700 to 750 basis points and up 50 basis points from original talk at launch in the Libor plus 700 basis points area.

In addition, a 100 basis point original issue discount was added to the term loan C, the source continued. Originally, the term loan C was being offered to investors at par.

Lastly, the two-year $50 million first event U.S. hurricane term loan B (BB) saw pricing firm up at Libor plus 800 basis points, in line with most recent price talk but the high end of original price talk at launch of around the Libor plus 750 to 800 basis points area, the source added.

The floating-rate note, the term loan B and the term loan C are all non-callable for life, and have been since the start of syndication.

Goldman Sachs is the lead bank on the $100 million catastrophe credit facility, down from an original size of $300 million, and on the bond.

Shackleton is a special-purpose Cayman Islands exempted company licensed as a restricted class B insurer in the Cayman Islands.

The loans are being done for Endurance Specialty Insurance Ltd.

VNU shifts funds, ups U.S. spread

VNU made some changes to its multi-billion dollar credit facility on Thursday, moving some funds out of its dollar-denominated term loan B and into its euro term loan B, and flexing pricing higher on the U.S. piece, according to a market source.

The seven-year dollar term loan B is now sized at $4.625 billion, down from an original size of $4.7125 billion, and pricing was increased to Libor plus 275 basis points from original talk at launch of Libor plus 250 basis points, the source said.

On the flip side, the seven-year euro-denominated term loan B is now sized at €450 million, up from an original size of €380 million, the source continued. Pricing on this tranche remained at Euribor plus 250 basis points.

VNU's credit facility (B1/B+) also contains a $687.5 million six-year multi-currency revolver that is priced at Libor plus 250 basis points.

Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan are the lead banks on the deal, with Citi the left lead.

Proceeds from the credit facility are being used to help back the acquisition of VNU by Valcon Acquisition BV, a company controlled by a private equity group consisting of affiliated funds of AlpInvest Partners NV, The Blackstone Group LP, The Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP.

VNU is a Netherlands-based information and media company.

U.S. Shipping upsizes

U.S. Shipping increased the size of its funded term loan to $235 million from $210 million after downsizing its bond offering to $175 million from $200 million, according to a market source.

Price talk on the upsized funded term loan, the $50 million delayed-draw term loan and the $50 million revolver is still being circulated in the Libor plus 300 to 325 basis points area, the source added.

The delayed-draw fee will be half the funded spread.

CIBC and Lehman Brothers are the lead banks on the now $335 million deal, with CIBC the left lead.

Proceeds from the credit facility, the bonds and a $75 million class B common units issuance will be used to fund $245.9 million into an escrow account available solely for the construction of four new articulated tug-barges, to fund up to $70 million of equity contributions to a joint venture, to refinance $152.1 million of existing debt and for general corporate purposes.

Each of the financing transactions is dependent on completion of the others and the joint venture.

The joint venture being formed is USS Product Investors LLC, and this new subsidiary has entered into an agreement with National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. for the construction of nine double-hulled tankers and the option to construct five additional tankers.

U.S. Shipping will own a 40% equity interest in the joint venture, with affiliates of The Blackstone Group, Lehman Brothers and certain other investors owning in aggregate a 60% equity interest.

U.S. Shipping is an Edison, N.J., provider of long-haul marine transportation services, primarily for refined petroleum products.

TFS ups term loan pricing

TFS Acquisition Corp. increased pricing on its $325 million term loan (B2/B+) to Libor plus 350 basis points from original talk at launch of Libor plus 275 basis points, and added 101 soft call protection for one year to the tranche, according to a market source.

Pricing on the company's $175 million ABL revolver was left unchanged at Libor plus 175 basis points.

Credit Suisse is the lead bank on the $500 million deal that will be used to help fund Platinum Equity's acquisition of Textron Inc.'s Fastening Systems business for $630 million in cash plus the assumption of certain liabilities.

TFS is a Troy, Mich., provider of full-service fastening systems to customers in the aerospace, automotive, construction, electronics, industrial equipment and non-automotive transportation industries.

Mobile Storage trims spread

Mobile Storage Group Inc. reverse flexed pricing on its $300 million ABL revolving credit facility to Libor plus 200 basis points from Libor plus 225 basis points, according to a market source.

Lehman is the lead bank on the deal.

The revolver is being obtained in connection with the company's leveraged buyout by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.

Mobile Storage is a Burbank, Calif., storage units company.

Oriental Trading frees to trade

Switching to the secondary, Oriental Trading's credit facility broke for trading, with the $410 million first-lien term loan B (B3/B) quoted at par ¼ bid, par ½ offered, and the $180 million second-lien term loan (Caa1/CCC+) quoted at 101½ bid, 102½ offered, according to a trader.

The first-lien term loan is priced with an interest rate of Libor plus 275 basis points, the low end of recently revised talk of Libor plus 275 to 300 basis points. The tranche was originally launched with price talk of Libor plus 200 to 250 basis points.

And, the second-lien term loan is priced with an interest rate of Libor plus 600 basis points, the high end of recently revised price talk of Libor plus 575 to 600 basis points. The tranche was originally launched with price talk of Libor plus 500 to 550 basis points.

Oriental Trading's $640 million credit facility also contains a $50 million revolver (B3/B) with an interest rate of Libor plus 275 basis points. Pricing on this tranche also came at the low end of recently revised talk of Libor plus 275 to 300 basis points. The revolver was originally launched with price talk of Libor plus 200 to 250 basis points.

JPMorgan and Wachovia are the lead banks on the deal.

Proceeds from the new loan, along with proceeds from some holding company pay-in-kind paper that will be placed by Wachovia, will be used to help fund The Carlyle Group's leveraged buyout of Oriental Trading from Brentwood Associates.

Oriental Trading is an Omaha, Neb., direct marketer of party and school supplies.

Revlon add-on breaks

Revlon's $100 million term loan B add-on (B3/B-) also hit the secondary on Thursday, with levels on the new and existing term loan B debt quoted at 102 3/8 bid, 102 7/8 offered, according to a trader.

By comparison, on Wednesday, the company's existing term loan B debt was being quoted at 102 7/8 bid, 103 3/8 offered.

The trader explained that existing lenders got their pro rata allocations on the new debt so some walked away with small pieces of the loan and since this add-on was sold at par, some decided to take the 1 or 2 point profit available by selling their positions, pushing trading levels slightly lower.

The term loan B add-on is priced with an interest rate of Libor plus 600 basis points, in line with existing term loan pricing. During syndication, the add-on was upsized from $75 million because of positive support from the lender group.

Citigroup is the lead bank on the deal that will be used for general corporate purposes and is expected to close on Friday.

Revlon is a New York-based cosmetics, skin care, fragrance and personal care products company.

Jarden stronger on numbers

Jarden's bank debt levels got a bit of a bounce on Thursday as the company came out with positive second-quarter numbers, according to a trader.

The term B-1 closed the day quoted at 99 7/8 bid, par 3/8 offered, and the term B-2 bank debt closed the day quoted at 99½ bid, par offered, with both of these tranches better on the day by about a quarter of a point, the trader said.

For the second quarter, Jarden reported that net sales increased to $962 million compared to $754 million for the same period last year, net income was $13.3 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, compared to $5.7 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2005, and on a non-GAAP basis, net income as adjusted was $39.3 million, or $0.60 per diluted share, compared to $36.5 million, or $0.58 per diluted share, last year.

In addition, for the six months ended June 30, net sales increased to $1.754 billion from $1.276 billion for the same period in 2005, net income was $19 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $14.4 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, for the six months ended June 30, 2005 and, on a non-GAAP basis, net income as adjusted was $55.1 million, or $0.84 per diluted share, compared to $52.3 million, or $0.83 per diluted share, for the six months ended June 30, 2005.

Jarden is a Rye, N.Y.-based provider of niche consumer products used in and around the home.

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