Waste Services floats talk; Tishman narrows guidance; Ford B loan overfills; Travelport rises

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, Dec. 7 - Waste Services Inc. started circulating price talk on its proposed term loan add-on as the deal is getting ready to launch with a conference call on Friday, and Tishman Speyer Properties LP has pretty much eliminated the high end of spread guidance from its term loan based on strong oversubscription.

In other primary news, Ford Motor Co.'s term loan B has received strong market demand, enough so to oversubscribe the deal.

Meanwhile, in secondary happenings, Travelport Ltd.'s term loan B headed higher after the company announced a merger agreement with Worldspan LP.

Waste Services came out with price talk of Libor plus 275 basis points on its proposed $100 million term loan add-on that is scheduled to launch with a conference call on Friday morning, according to a market source.

In addition, it was revealed that the company will ask lenders to reprice its existing term loan debt to Libor plus 275 bps from current pricing of Libor plus 300 bps, the source said.

Lastly, on the call, lenders are expected to be asked for permission to loosen covenants, the source added.

Lehman is the lead bank on the deal.

Proceeds from the add-on will be used to fund the previously announced acquisitions of Pro Disposal and the SLD Landfill in Florida as well as to repay outstanding borrowings under the company's revolving credit facility.

Waste Services is a Burlington, Ont., integrated solid waste services company.

Tishman focuses on low end

Tishman Speyer has essentially narrowed down price talk on its $370 million six-year term loan B to just Libor plus 175 bps from original talk at launch of Libor plus 175 to 200 bps being that the deal is "well oversubscribed," according to a market source.

The company's $545 million credit facility (BB-) also includes a $175 million five-year revolver talked at Libor plus 175 bps with a 50 bps unused fee.

Lehman Brothers is the lead bank on the deal that will be used, along with equity and mortgage debt, to fund the acquisition of a large Washington, D.C., office portfolio from The Blackstone Group LP's portfolio company, CarrAmerica Realty Corp.

Leverage is less than 60% through the bank deal.

Tishman Speyer is a New York-based owner, developer, fund manager and operator of first-class real estate.

Ford term B oversubscribed

Ford's $7 billion seven-year term loan B has already received enough investor interest to oversubscribe the transaction, according to a market source.

Pricing on the loan is still Libor plus 300 bps, with call protection for two years, then callable at 102 in year three and 101 in year four.

On Wednesday, the company announced that because of overwhelming support for its five-year revolver, it is estimated that the tranche will be upsized to anywhere from $10.5 billion to $11.5 billion, compared to the original $8 billion size that it initially carried.

One other change made to the credit agreement on Wednesday regarded availability of the $2 billion basket for pari passu first-lien debt from either incremental facilities and/or permitted additional notes.

In addition to the conditions currently in the term sheet, Ford must now also meet one of the following two conditions to access any amount of the basket - it must pledge its investment in Mazda Motor Corp. as additional collateral for all of the senior secured debt, or it must decrease commitments under the revolver or repay term loan B debt by at least the amount of the additional debt.

The $1.5 billion basket for permitted non-loan exposure under the credit agreement was left unchanged.

Security for the up to $18.5 billion senior secured credit facility (Ba3/B) is first-priority liens on principal domestic manufacturing facilities and substantially all of the company's other domestic automotive assets, certain intellectual property, certain real property, all or a portion of the stock of certain subsidiaries, certain intercompany payables and notes, and up to $4 billion of domestic cash without restriction on its use.

Proceeds from the loan, along with $4.5 billion in convertibles, will be used to replace the company's existing unsecured $6.3 billion credit facility, address near- and medium-term negative operating-related cash flow, fund its restructuring, and provide added liquidity to protect against a recession or other unanticipated events.

JPMorgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are the joint lead arrangers on the deal.

Ford is a Dearborn, Mich.-based manufacturer and distributor of automobiles.

Travelport trades up

Switching to the secondary, Travelport's term loan B inched its way to higher ground as news emerged that its subsidiary is being merged with Worldspan, according to a trader.

The proposed transaction, which values Worldspan at $1.4 billion, is expected to deliver financial benefits capitalizing on natural operational synergies. The initial integration focus will be on consolidating technology and administrative operations resulting in near-term cost savings of about $50 million.

In connection with the merger, Worldspan is undergoing a recapitalization that will include a new $1 billion credit facility - scheduled to launch Friday - to be used to refinance its existing senior credit facility and to redeem all of its outstanding senior second-lien secured floating-rate notes due 2011.

The recapitalization also involves Travelport loaning $125 million to Worldspan in exchange for a payment in kind (PIK) note, which Travelport funded through cash on hand. Furthermore, one of Travelport's parent companies also loaned Worldspan $125 million in exchange for a PIK note.

Following the merger announcement, Travelport's term loan B worked its way up to par 3/8 bid, par 5/8 offered, where it closed the day, from par 1/8 bid, the trader said.

Travelport is a Chicago-based travel conglomerate. Worldspan is an Atlanta-based provider of travel technology services for travel suppliers, travel agencies, e-commerce sites and corporations.

Georgia-Pacific stronger

Georgia-Pacific Corp.'s term loan B traded higher on Thursday as the market in general felt very strong with better buyers coming in, according to a trader.

The term loan B closed the day at par 3/8 bid, par ½ offered, up from par ¼ bid, par 3/8 offered, the trader said.

Georgia-Pacific is an Atlanta-based manufacturer and marketer of tissue, packaging, paper, building products and related chemicals.

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