Virgin Media breaks for trading; Ineos Quattro revises price talk; U.S. Silica readies loan

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, March 2 – Virgin Media Bristol LLC finalized the original issue discount on its first-lien term loan Y at the tight end of guidance and then the debt freed to trade on Thursday morning.

In more happenings, Ineos Quattro set the spread on its U.S. and euro term loans at the low end of talk and modified original issue discount guidance, and U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. emerged with plans to bring a new term loan B to market early next week.

Virgin Media updated, frees

Virgin Media Bristol set the original issue discount on its $750 million eight-year first-lien term loan Y (Ba3/BB-/BB+) at 99, the tight end of the 98.5 to 99 talk, according to a market source.

As before, the term loan Y is priced at SOFR+10 basis points CSA plus 325 bps with +/- 7.5 bps linked to two sustainability performance targets and a 0% floor, and has 101 soft call protection for six months.

On Thursday morning, the term loan Y made its way into the secondary market, with levels quoted at 99 1/8 bid, 99 3/8 offered, a trader added.

Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Bank of Nova Scotia, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Agricole, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., Lloyds, MUFG, Santander and SMBC are leading the deal. Scotia is the administrative agent.

The term loan Y will be used for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of existing debt.

Closing is expected during the week of March 6.

Virgin Media is a New York-based media and telecommunications company.

Ineos tweaked

Ineos Quattro firmed pricing on its U.S. seven-year term loan B at SOFR plus 375 bps, the low end of the SOFR plus 375 bps to 400 bps talk, and on its euro seven-year term loan B at Euribor plus 400 bps, the low end of the Euribor plus 400 bps to 425 bps talk, and modified original issue discount on both loans to a range of 98.5 to 99 from 98, a market source said.

The U.S. term loan still has 10 bps CSA, both loans still have a 0% floor and 101 soft call protection for one year, and the term loans still total €750 million equivalent, with the U.S. piece expected to have a minimum size of $400 million.

Recommitments for the U.S. term loan were due at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday and recommitments for the euro term loan are due at 5 a.m. ET on Friday, the source added.

JPMorgan Chase Bank and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are joint physical leads on the euro term loan and JPMorgan is the left lead on the U.S. term loan.

The loans will be used to fund a dividend and for general corporate purposes.

With this transaction, the chemicals company is looking to amend its existing U.S. term loan debt to transition to SOFR from Libor and add 10 bps CSA.

U.S. Silica on deck

U.S. Silica will hold a lender call at 1 p.m. ET on Monday to launch a $950 million seven-year term loan B that is talked at SOFR plus 475 bps with a 0.5% floor, an original issue discount of 97 to 98 and 101 soft call protection for six months, a market source remarked.

Commitments are due at noon ET on March 16, the source added.

BNP Paribas Securities Corp. is the left lead on the deal, which will be used to refinance an existing $1.06 billion term loan B due May 2025 priced at Libor plus 400 bps with a step-down to Libor plus 350 bps at 1.75x net leverage and a 1% floor.

In addition to the term loan, the company is getting a new revolving credit facility.

U.S. Silica is a Katy, Tex.-based industrial minerals and logistics company.

Fund flows

In other news, actively managed loan fund flows on Wednesday were negative $65 million and loan ETFs were positive $12 million, market sources said.

Actively managed high-yield fund flows on Wednesday were negative $50 million and high-yield ETFs were negative $1.04 billion, sources added.

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