Cedar Fair $1.175 billion term loan B breaks at 99, seen trading at par bid, par ½ offered

By Paul A. Harris

St. Louis, July 29 -Cedar Fair LP's $1.175 billion 5.5-year term loan B (Ba2/BB-) broke for trading at an issue price of 99.00 early Thursday afternoon, according to a bank loan trader.

A small amount of the deal traded at par bid, par ½ offered, the source added.

Later in the session, the company announced that the transaction had closed.

The loan priced at Libor plus 400 basis points, with a 1.5% Libor floor. Last week pricing was reduced to Libor plus 400 bps from Libor plus 425 bps JPMorgan, Keybank Capital Markets, UBS and Fifth Third Bank led the deal. The term loan came to market sized at $1.25 billion. However it was downsized to $1.15 billion following the upsizing of the company's junk bond deal to $405 million from $300 million.

Last week Cedar Fair increased the loan to $1.175 billion from $1.15 billion and decreased its Libor plus 400 bps revolver to $275 million from $300 million.

The accompanying revolver was reduced to $260 million before the deal settled. The revolver has an interest rate of Libor plus 400 bps.

"By successfully refinancing our debt, we accomplished two priorities: greater certainty within our capital structure and significantly enhanced financial flexibility," said Dick Kinzel, Cedar Fair's chairman, president and chief executive officer, in a news release.

"This financing provides us with long-term stability in our capital structure as our earliest debt maturity, the revolving credit facility, is five years out," added Peter Crage, Cedar Fair's corporate vice president of finance and chief financial officer.

"In addition, we believe the new covenants offer us the necessary flexibility we need to successfully pursue our strategy, which includes continued re-investment in our parks, debt reduction, as well as distributions at an appropriate time in the future."

Proceeds from the credit facility and the junk bonds will be used to refinance an existing credit facility.

Cedar Fair is a Sandusky, Ohio-based regional amusement-resort operator.

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