Deals
Biggest Buyout Financings Steamroll Over Investor Safeguards
- Refinitiv, AkzoNobel bond terms less protective for buyers
- Initial signs suggest strong demand given size and yield
This article is for subscribers only.
The year’s biggest buyout financing, backing the $20 billion acquisition of Thomson Reuters Corp.’s spinoff, Refinitiv, is challenging some hard-won investor protections.
Arrangers are taking advantage of strong demand for the $13.5 billion debt package to weaken key covenants. They’re also pushing the deal through quickly, limiting the time buyers have to analyze all the small print. It’s a similar story for debt that’s financing the buyout of Akzo Nobel NV’s specialty chemicals unit. The deals are bucking a trend of investor pushback in Europe this year.