London, Oct 16 - A 690 million euro ($1 billion) loan backing the $2.23 billion purchase of 11 breweries from ABInBev showed financing is available for big deals but bankers want the reassurance of a chunky cheque from the buyer.
At 65 percent of the purchase price, CVC Capital Partners equity cheque was among the largest seen on a European buyout, altough a $448 million vendor loan from ABInBev included in the financing package will allow CVC to defer some of the payment.
"This (loan) shows that banks have got money and will commit big amounts. This is a decent-sized deal and most of the market is playing. Given where the leveraged market is this is pretty big news," a senior banker close to the deal said.
CVC's club-style deal was the biggest buyout financing to emerge from Europe's all-but closed leveraged loan market this year. Bankers said it showed they were willing to finance buyouts, backed by large equity cheques, of well-priced, cash generative companies with low leverage levels.
The loan will be provided by 11 banks which are expected to sign into the deal shortly. ING, JP Morgan and UniCredit acted as co-ordinators and will be joined by SG, Erste Bank, Mediobanca, KfW, HSBC, Fortis Bank, BAWAG, Barclays which have provided 50-75 million euros each, the senior banker said.
Another five senior banks could join the deal which will be sold down further to local banks to raise foreign currency, he said.
The loan was priced at 475-525 basis points over EURIBOR and has fees starting at 4 percent, which gives lenders an average return of around six percent per annum, the senior banker said.
Another 25 million euro facility is available to buy minority shareholders out of the deal, he said.
The loan has low leverage of 2.8 times to compensate lenders for foreign exchange and country risk on the central and eastern European breweries, another banker said.
The purchase of 11 breweries in Central and Eastern Europe was CVC's first major investment in the region, bankers said.
FINANCING AIDS COMPLETION
The CVC loan was one of the few sizeable European buyout financings to survive difficult sales processes this year.
It was the biggest loan to emerge since the 250 million pounds ($406 million) loan backing Charterhouse's acquisition of British energy research firm Wood Mackenzie in June.
A larger 542.5 million euro loan backing Dutch utility Essent's sale of its waste management unit Essent Milieu fell away in May when that sale collapsed in June.
Vendor loans, such as that provided by ABInBev, are expected to become familiar fixtures on new buyouts going forward to ease sales and resolve potential disputes over valuation.
They are being mentioned in the context of the potential sale of a stake in German publisher Springer Science and Business Media.
A $330 million vendor loan was also discussed in the context of publisher Reed Elsevier's proposed $2 billion sale of trade magazine division Reed Business Information which fell through last December.