MGM-Mandalay casino loan makes CMBS return

UK consumer ABS Polo Funding 2021-1 set final spreads on Friday, with its senior notes landing at 100bp and levels on two mezzanine tranches widening from initial price thoughts. The Oplo HL-originated deal's Class A notes will price at 100bp over Sonia, having started with initial price thoughts in the 100bp area. The tranche was 1.6 times covered. Spreads on the Class B and C notes settled at 200bp and 315bp, having started with mid 100s and mid 200s IPTs. The B notes were 1.3 times covered and the C notes 1.4 times covered. Spreads on the...

IsoPlexis, a commercial-stage lab equipment firm focused on proteomics, launched an up to US$133m Nasdaq IPO that offers exposure to an innovative new field of drug discovery. Morgan Stanley, Cowen, Evercore and SVB Leerink launched marketing early on Friday of 8.3m shares at US$14–$16 for pricing Thursday, October 7. The IPO values IsoPlexis up to US$690m on a fully diluted basis. That's a 1.66 times step-up from a private mark of US$9.62 a share from an US$85m Series D round in January led by Perceptive Advisors, Northpond Ventures,...

Arranger and lead manager Credit Suisse announced the European market’s first CRE CLO since the financial crisis: Starz Mortgage Securities 2021-1, on Thursday, kindling the prospect of the product's growth in Europe. The sophisticated sponsors typical on CMBS deals are holding large balance sheets and expected to increasingly use refinancing options like CRE CLOs to support their lending. Structured credit investors have also shown themselves open to new supply sources in September, buying German consumer loan ABS paper from debut originator...

UK landlords are contemplating how they can recoup some of the £6bn in unpaid rent built up over the past 18 months during the pandemic, after some of the restrictions on normal business started to be lifted at the end of last week. From October 1 landlords were allowed to serve notice on tenants who have breached contracts, such as not paying rent, and claim what is owed to them. Certain restrictions still continue until March 25, however. The restrictions have started to be lifted in the same week as the government’s furlough scheme also...

Insurance software company Mitchell International revised terms on a US$2.475bn first-lien term loan B and US$525m second-lien term loan that will refinance debt and pay a dividend to shareholders. The seven-year first-lien loan is now at 375bp over Libor with a 0.5% floor, on the tight end of guidance of 375bp–400bp. The OID was revised to 99.25 from 99. It now comes with 101 soft call protection for 12 months instead of six months. This will reset to six months of soft call protection when the permitted change of control clause is invoked....

The Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosure is starting work to develop a reporting framework that will define nature-related risk after enlisting the support of 35 executives from corporate and financial institutions. Taskforce members will work with TNFD to put forward a draft risk management and disclosure framework by early 2022, and will meet for the first time in Paris on October 6 to start work that also spans biodiversity, data, metrics and standards. Biodiversity and nature-related risks pose a significant threat to a wide...

Having weathered a pandemic and with its business now in recovery, senior housing facility operator Brookdale Senior Living reintroduced itself to the capital markets with the sale on Tuesday of US$200m five-year convertible bonds. Bank of America, as sole bookrunner, priced the CB at a 2% coupon and 35% conversion premium, the aggressive ends of 2%–2.5% and 30%–35% talk marketed for one day. Brookdale, which has not sold stock since the onset of the pandemic but has sold assets, spent a portion of the money raised on a capped call that...

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, big banks stopped a decade-long trend of slimming employee ranks. That’s over, and between 100,000 and 200,000 jobs could be cut in the US as banks resume their quest for efficiency driven by technology, according to analysts at Wells Fargo. From 2007 to 2018, the four largest US banks reduced headcount by nearly 300,000, while other large banks increased headcount by 64,000. But in the past two years, headcount has been relatively flat at all banks, Wells said in a 110-page research report. “We look for...

SoFi Technologies’ move to sell convertible debt on Wednesday was a natural one, given the fintech’s long-term growth agenda and practicality of funding with a security that limits dilution. SoFi, under the direction of former Goldman Sachs banker Anthony Noto, was pushing investors away, resulting in an upsized US$1.1bn raised from the sale of a five-year CB that will only lead to dilution if its share price doubles. Investors will be eligible to convert at a 40% premium but will be paid nothing – zero percent coupon – for the privilege....

Having been rebuffed at an earlier run at the public markets, women’s clothier Claire’s is making a second go of it under different ownership, filing last week for a US$100m placeholder IPO. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are joint bookrunners on what is an all-primary offering. The proceeds will be used to take out high-cost preferred stock from its owners and, perhaps more significantly, flush the balance of that preferred stock into common stock. Those owners of the series A preferred, on which the retailer pays a 14% dividend...

Amid surging natural gas prices globally, US exploration and production company EQT saw shareholders offload US$518m, a nearly 7% stake they inherited as part of an M&A transaction last Tuesday. Barclays and JP Morgan placed 25.9m EQT shares at US$20.00, the bottom of the US$20.00–$21.00 range marketed overnight and a 9.4% discount to the last sale price. EQT shares traded early on Wednesday at US$20.74, delivering solid gains for investors who participated. The selldown comes less than three months after the Marcellus Shale-focused EQT...

Though running at a more leisurely pace than it has for much of the year amid a seasonal slowdown and increased market volatility, the US IPO market enters the fourth quarter with five live deals seeking combined proceeds of US$1.9bn in the coming week. The IPO mix continues to produce some recurrent themes, the most prominent in the coming week being health and fitness. By far the two biggest IPOs are sponsor-backed "athletic centre" operator Life Time, which is seeking nearly US$1bn from its NYSE IPO, and NordicTrack exercise bike and...