Berry Plastics' term B oversubscribed on day of bank meeting; Xerox back up to 92

By Sara Rosenberg

New York, June 20 - Berry Plastics Corp.'s bank meeting regarding its new $455 million credit facility "was very well attended and extremely well received," a syndicate source said.

The term loan B "is several times oversubscribed" and will be sold at par, while upfront fees for the revolver were set at 75 basis points for a commitment of $15 million, he added. Goldman Sachs & Co. and JPMorgan Chase are the lead banks on the deal.

Furthermore, General Electric Capital Corp. and Royal Bank of Scotland signed on as documentation agents.

"They did a little bit of pre-marketing, which is smart. They had good momentum going into the bank meeting," a market professional said. "I heard they received more then $600 million in commitments so it's about two times oversubscribed."

The loan consists of a $100 million six-year revolver with an interest rate of Libor plus 275 basis points, a $50 million six-year delayed draw term loan with an interest rate of Libor plus 275 basis points and a $305 million eight-year term loan B with an interest rate of Libor plus 325 basis points, the syndicate source said. There is a 50 basis points commitment fee on the revolver and a 75 basis points commitment fee on the delayed draw term loan.

Berry's credit facility will be fully secured and is expected to close in July, the syndicate source said. Proceeds will be used to fund the company's purchase by GS Capital Partners 2000 LP and repay outstanding debt. GS Capital Partners' plans to acquire the Evansville, Ind. injection-molded plastic products company for $837.5 million from First Atlantic Capital, JPMorgan Partners and Aetna Life Insurance were announced on May 28.

In secondary news, the bid on Xerox Corp. has been fluctuating between 91 and 92 this week as the company's upcoming refinancing deadline continues to be watched and speculated upon. On Monday, the loan was bid at 91 as talk circulated the market that four or five banks were holding out on signing the amendment. On Tuesday, the bid improved to 92 as market talk changed to name UBS Warburg as the lone bank holding out on the $7 billion revolver refinancing, causing some to believe that the deal would get done because UBS wouldn't want any negative press. On Wednesday, the bid settled back down to 91, only to resurface on Thursday at 92. This time, the slight strengthening of the bid was attributed to market talk that UBS "may have caved" and signed the Stamford, Conn. document company's amendment, a trader said.

Throughout the week, the offer has remained at 93, the trader added.

UBS has no comment on the Xerox situation.

Adelphia Communications Corp.'s bank loan paper experienced "no activity" Thursday despite the Coudersport, Pa. cable company's announcement that the 30-day grace period expired for interest payments that it failed to pay on May 15.

The period applied to $23.4375 million on Adelphia's 9 3/8% senior notes due Nov. 15, 2009, $6.46875 million on its 7½% series E mandatory convertible preference stock, $10.625 million on Olympus Communications, LP and Olympus Capital Corp.'s 10 5/8% senior notes due Nov. 15, 2006 and $4.1875 million on Arahova Communications, Inc.'s 8 3/8% senior notes due Nov. 15, 2007.

The Olympus loan continues to be bid in the mid 80's and offered in the high 80's. And, the Century loan remained in the loan 80's, the trader said.

Dollar General Corp. closed on its new $450 million credit facility Thursday, according to a syndicate source. The loan consists of a $350 million three-year revolver with a current facility fee of 37.5 basis points and a $150 million 364-day tranche with a current facility fee of 32.5 basis points and a all-in draw rate of Libor plus 237.5 basis points. SunTrust was the lead arranger for the deal.

Proceeds were used to refinance the company's existing debt.

Dollar General us a Goodlettsville, Tenn. discount retailer of general merchandise.

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