Biogroup LCD offers price talk on term loan

Pricing on the €1.40 billion to €1.65 billion term loan from Biogroup LCD has been guided at E+375-400 with a 0% floor offered at 99.75, following a lender call today. Replies on the loan are due by 10 a.m. London time on Jan. 28, via global coordinators and physical bookrunners BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan and Natixis, alongside other bookrunners Credit Agricole CIB, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and HSBC.

Guidance suggests a yield of 3.85%-4.11%, and the seven-year deal comes with six months of soft-call protection at 101. The deal is part of a broader refinancing of Biogroup’s capital structure that also includes other secured debt of €600 million to €850 million, and unsecured debt of €250 million. In all this will take out Biogroup's €2.015 billion first-lien term loan in full, as well as second-lien and PIK debt.

France-based independent labs group Biogroup is a regular feature in Europe's leveraged loan market, and this refinancing will take it into high-yield for the first time. The firm was last seen in August 2020 when it placed a €536 million term loan due April 2026 at E+475 with a 0% floor, to support an acquisition. From allocations of 96, that deal was quoted in secondary in a rough 100.250/100.875 market earlier this week, though it has now moved towards par on the bid following the refinancing news.

Biogroup also has a €274.7 million term loan B due April 2026 (E+425), as well as a roughly €1.2 billion term loan B due April 2026 (E+375) that was quoted around 99.750/100.375 in the secondary market before news of the refinancing. Last year's deal in August also came with roughly €118 million of second-lien debt, according to a report from S&P Global Ratings. The borrower's name is CAB, and existing corporate ratings are B-/B2/B on stable, negative, and negative outlooks, respectively.