Busy Bees tightens terms anew on £585M dual-tranche loan refinancing

Busy Bees Holdings Ltd. has set final terms on its £585 million-equivalent loan refinancing, to tighten pricing on both the sterling and euro tranches. Commitments are now due by 1 p.m. U.K. time today via joint global coordinators and physical bookrunners BNP Paribas and J.P. Morgan.

The revisions leave the seven-year deal split as follows:

• £365.9 million term loan at L+475 with a 0% floor, offered at 99.5, versus L+475, 0%, 99 at launch
• Roughly €257 million term loan (£220M-equiv.) at E+375 with a 0% floor, offered at par, versus talk of E+400-425, 0%, 99 at launch, then tightened to E+375-400, 0%, 99.5

Final pricing suggests a yield of 5% on the sterling portion and 3.8% on the euros. The deal is cov-lite, and comes with six months of soft-call protection. Ratings have emerged at B-/B3 (issuer and issue), with a 3 recovery rating from S&P Global Ratings.

HSBC and SMBC are joint physical bookrunners on the deal, while Bank of America and Bank of Ireland are passive bookrunners.

Proceeds will refinance debt. The firm has a dual-currency term loan outstanding that matures in May 2022. That facility was originally agreed as a £210 million deal in May 2015, before a number of sterling- and euro-denominated add-ons. A £100 million revolver rounds out the debt.

Busy Bees is the largest nursery operator in the U.K., Malaysia and Singapore, and is also active in Canada and Australia. It is backed by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.