Knife River, Macquarie AirFinance kick off primary; Citrix improves; Ford weaker; Homepoint jumps

By Paul A. Harris and Abigail W. Adams

Portland, Me., April 10 – Macquarie AirFinance Holdings Ltd. and Knife River Holding Co. kicked off what could be a comparatively active post-holiday week in the high-yield primary market with a combined $900 million amount of potential issuance, sources said.

Meanwhile, it was a slow start to the week in the secondary space with trading thin as activity surrounding recent issues tempered and with European markets closed for the holiday.

The market was soft at the open but rallied into the close to end the day largely unchanged, a source said.

Citrix Systems, Inc. continued to dominate the tape with Cloud Software Group Holdings Inc.’s 9% senior second-lien notes due 2029 (Caa2/B-) and Citrix’s 6½% senior secured notes due March 31, 2029 (B2/B) continuing to improve.

Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC’s new 6.8% senior notes due 2028 (Ba2/BB+/BB+) were slightly weaker in active trade.

Home Point Capital Inc.’s 5% senior notes due 2026 (Caa1//B-) were the major gainers of Monday’s session following an asset sale.

Active primary eyed

Macquarie AirFinance Holdings plans to price a $500 million offering of five-year senior notes (Fitch: BB) on Wednesday. The debt refinancing deal comes with initial guidance of 8¾% to 9%.

Meanwhile Knife River, which is being spun off from MDU Resources Group, Inc., expects to sell $400 million of eight-year senior notes (Ba3/BB) on Tuesday. The deal, which comes in relation to the spinoff, is in the market with initial talk of 8% to 8¼%.

The new-issue market could see $5 billion of new paper clear ahead of Friday's close, a bond trader said on Monday.

Should that amount of deal volume surface, the April 10 week would come in substantially above the 2023 weekly run-rate of $3.8 billion, according to Prospect News data.

Citrix mixed

Citrix’s first- and second-lien notes continued to dominate activity in the secondary space with the notes adding to their gains.

The Cloud Software 9% senior second-lien notes due September 2029 were slightly stronger.

While there were some prints below an 83-handle the bulk of trading activity was in the 83 to 83½ context, a source said.

The yield was about 12 7/8%, a source said.

There was $67 million in reported volume.

Citrix’s 6½% senior secured notes due March 31, 2029 were up about a ¼ point with the notes changing hands in the 89¼ to 89¾ context.

The yield was about 8¾%.

There was $15 million in reported volume.

Ford weaker

Ford’s 6.8% senior notes due 2028 were slightly weaker in active trade, although they held onto a par handle.

The 6.8% notes were changing hands in the par 1/8 to par 3/8 context throughout the session, a source said.

There was $17 million in reported volume with the notes the second most active issue in the secondary space.

Home Point gains

Home Point’s 5% senior notes due 2026 were the major gainers of Monday’s session following an asset sale.

The 5% notes added 4 points in active trade to close the day at 78 5/8, a source said.

The yield narrowed to 14½%.

There was $10 million in reported volume.

Home Point was on the rise following news that it had sold certain assets of its loan origination business to the Loan Store Inc., a source said.

Indexes

The KDP High Yield Daily index fell 9 points to close Monday at 51.67 with the yield now 7.14%.

The index posted a cumulative gain of 9 points on the week last week.

The ICE BofAML US High Yield index inched up 2.8 bps with the year-to-date return now 3.72%.

The CDX High Yield 30 index gained 33 bps to close Monday at 100.77.

The index posted a cumulative loss of 105 bps on the week last week.

© 2015 Prospect News.
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