KDP In the News

Jul 02, 2008 - "The existing term loans outstanding are securitized by primarily domestic property, plant and equipment. I don't know how much is left there as a cushion"

Jul 02, 2008 - "What is more curious, if not troubling, is the reference to retiring debt taking advantage of current market conditions."

Jun 30, 2008 - "It's a tough time to get a deal done. Banks may have to increase the discount or change the terms of the debt."

Jun 30, 2008 - "Right now, everybody's trying to get to the higher-quality sector; you can see that in new issuance. People are looking to put their money to work; it's not time yet to go after the distressed sector."

Jun 27, 2008 - "We always argued that if you've got debt outstanding and loans you should make information available for improving understanding and transparency in the marketplace."

Jun 26, 2008 - "Any time you can turn bridge financing into permanent financing, you’ve reduced the potential for financial risk in a changing economic environment."

Jun 25, 2008 - "The question right now is: How much cash are they going to burn and do they have enough liquidity?"

Jun 25, 2008 - "Obviously people are revisiting the economy, they're revisiting the health of the financial services industry."

Jun 25, 2008 - "That company's bonds trade at about 90 cents on the dollar, but the company's geographic diversity and its main product - automotive safety systems - "continue to enjoy favorable trends in demand and content per vehicle."

Jun 24, 2008 - "The combination of soft economic conditions and skyrocketing gas costs is likely to manifest itself in GMAC's near-term results in myriad ways, including lower unit financing volume, higher credit losses and delinquencies and, of course, declining vehicle residual values."

Jun 19, 2008 - "KDP Advisors also changed its recommendation on Huntsman's bonds on Wednesday to "sell" from hold." The bonds had been supported by the prospect that Huntsman's acquirers would offer to repurchase them at a premium, KDP said."

Jun 19, 2008 - "The debt overhang is shrinking but the risk is rising in terms of what the market will accept."

Jun 12, 2008 - "We continue to take a cautious view on the consumer. Toy is particularly vulnerable in light of its high concentration of cash flow generated during the Christmas season."

Jun 10, 2008 - "We have long suspected this deal was never going to get consummated."

Jun 10, 2008 - "While shareholders get to take some cash off the table, United Rentals is "putting more leverage on at a time when the fundamentals of the rental market have softened."

Jun 04, 2008 - "While it seems ResCap has gotten the support if needs to continue pursuing its turnaround, there remains a huge amount of uncertainty as to whether those efforts will ultimately be successful."

May 30, 2008 - "The market is showing it has an appetite for good paper and that will continue."

May 27, 2008 - "The agreement is "definitely good news." It certainly gives them additional liquidity and time to weather this housing downturn."

May 26, 2008 - "I haven't seen any other company do a tender and put that caveat in there, to only tender if you purchase some of the new notes."

May 26, 2008 - "In one hopeful sign, investment banks have whittled down the backlog of buyout-related debt on their books from $350 billion a year ago to less then $150 billion today."

May 19, 2008 - "The bankruptcy threat left bondholders with little choice but to tender."

May 19, 2008 - "This is a pretty closed deal. It was arranged or engineered by Nortek with a few investors, not many."

May 19, 2008 - "Claire's "may be trying to conserve some cash as it looks to execute its plans" to expand its business abroad and increase revenue."

May 12, 2008 - "I'm encouraged the banks seem willing to continue working with the company, but they're keeping them on a short leash at this point."

May 11, 2008 - "While the company may want to retain" the Strip property, it needs new funding so "most creditors including its own term loan holders will push for the sale" of the hotel-casino, according to Cappaert."

May 11, 2008 - "We suspect a long-term strategy that could alter (where changes in funding) may eventually emerge."

May 08, 2008 - "Investors didn't trade up the deal too much because the coupon came in lower than had been expected. The price talk of that deal was between 7.75% and 8% prior to its sale."

May 06, 2008 - "The spring selling season has been difficult again. The writedowns are pretty sizeable again."

May 05, 2008 - "It seems kind of intuitive, doesn't it?" Thomas Ferguson, analyst with KDP Investment Advisors, asked rhetorically, although he doesn't believe ResCap is close to filing for bankruptcy."

May 02, 2008 - "The best case being Cerberus ponies up money and supports ResCap and all the bonds mature at par, and your worst nightmare is GMAC says forget it and files ResCap (for bankruptcy)."

May 02, 2008 - "Assuming it goes according to plan, it eliminates the risk of default this year because it takes care of their problems with bond and loan maturities in 2008."

May 02, 2008 - "If, as we all expect, there's going to be an uptick in bankruptcies, the bulk of that is going to come from the Triple-Cs."

Apr 30, 2008 - "When people feel better about the market they dive into 'Triple-Cs' and run them up, and when they get spooked, that's the first place they run from."

Apr 28, 2008 - "According to KDP Advisor, Hovnanian's 8.875s were up seven points on Thursday and its 7.75s were up five points. The loans did not move on Thursday."

Apr 25, 2008 - "We regard the new facility as further evidence that, at least for the near term, GMAC is committed to providing additional capital support to ResCap."

Apr 24, 2008 - "There is no question that GMAC is making sure that whatever money they're putting into ResCap they're protected and then some."

Apr 21, 2008 - "The Berry {strategy} was a smart move, coming to the bond market to issue debt that looks very much like a term loan. I think they tapped a broader investor base."

Apr 18, 2008 - "KDP Investment Advisors said the high-yield derivatives index hit 97.25 points during the day, up 1.25 points and considerably higher than the 92.75-point level at which it began the month."

Apr 16, 2008 - "Given that the excess value inherent in this property is attractive to bondholders, we think that (Tropicana Las Vegas) will become part of any restructuring."

Apr 14, 2008 - "Abitibi…had so many moving parts, it's impressive that they managed to put it together."

Apr 11, 2008 - "The market for high-yield bonds is showing signs of life as bankers for First Data Corp., the largest processor of credit-card payments, and mobile-phone company Alltel Corp. seek buyers for bonds used to finance the companies' leveraged buyouts."

Apr 08, 2008 - "If people are nervous about the credit and the company draws down the revolver, it triggers fear."

Apr 07, 2008 - "The decision indicates GMAC and Cerberus "are committed, at least for the near-term, to maintaining their options value on ResCap."

Apr 07, 2008 - "Loans were the favorite creatures for LBOs, so in a default recovery scenario, your senior unsecured bonds may be more like equity."

Apr 07, 2008 - "Given that these were new issuances in the primary market, one could question why they needed to clear the market at distressed spreads. When did the primary market become a distressed market?"

Apr 03, 2008 - "The market seems to be showing the first hint of opening up again, but it's still very tight, especially for the lower-rated issuers."

Apr 03, 2008 - "KDP Investment Advisors gaming analyst Barbara Cappaert in a note to investors described the operating earnings as "unimpressive."

Apr 02, 2008 - "We're increasingly concerned that the mortgage crisis will be more protracted and acute than we'd previously expected, and it's far from clear that a near-term turnaround can be expected."

Mar 31, 2008 - "Bridge loan volume has almost matched that of leveraged loans and surpassed that of high yield bonds, as reported by KDP Investment Advisors' loan and bond calendars."

Mar 27, 2008 - "We've seen this in the past…and it may become more common place going forward in the current credit environment," speaking of ConAgra's decision to help finance the deal itself. That decision isn't surprising."

Mar 25, 2008 - "While there is still considerable uncertainty as to whether the company will be able to complete all of its refinancing plans, recent developments have been encouraging."

Mar 24, 2008 - "Bear Stearns hasn't done much to reduce this overhang, sources said. It hasn't syndicated a leveraged loan where it was the lead underwriter since mid-June, and it is the lead bank for only one pending loan deal that represents just $250 million, according to KDP Investment Advisors,"

Mar 14, 2008 - "Too much supply hit the gaming market at a time there were questions," regarding the health of consumer spending."

Mar 14, 2008 - "Yields on corporate junk bonds surged to 10.02%, a nearly five-year high, from 9.93% last Wednesday, according to an index of 100 high-yield issues compiled by KDP Investment Advisors."

Mar 12, 2008 - "Fears are rising that AbitibiBowater's exchange offer won't succeed."

Mar 12, 2008 - "The high-yield bond market was essentially flat, according to KDP Investment Advisor, a bond research firm."

Mar 11, 2008 - "In a research note Tuesday afternoon, KDP's Matthew Wilcox said that the refinancing was "mildly positive" in the near term, noting that the company said the new issuance would give it sufficient liquidity through 2009."

Mar 10, 2008 - "We believe the exchange offer for the notes maturing in 2008 and 2009 would likely constitute a default for those accepting the exchange. This is because, regardless of the value of the exchange notes, an extension of maturity to 2010 would be considered a default on the bonds."

Mar 07, 2008 - "The debt market is recognizing this for what it is. The company can't meet its obligations and is making debt holders a proposal in which the alternative is probably bankruptcy."

Mar 05, 2008 - "Without a filing, the company would limp along, likely paying off its entire operating company term loan, resulting in a credit which would barely meet remaining interest costs."

Mar 04, 2008 - "The news buoyed the bonds because it will bring bondholders to the table to negotiate their recovery a lot faster then had they been left to wait for the company to miss an interest payment and default way."

Mar 03, 2008 - "They got a bounce, they were down to about 67 and after the news they bounced up to 72, they're still down 8 or 9 points on the day."

Mar 03, 2008 - "They certainly have a big investment, so they'd like this to turn around." He reckons that they'll hold on to the company for another three to four years and then bring it public in an IPO. "The risk is if things don't get better for a couple of years."

Feb 29, 2008 - "It certainly seems like a great opportunity for companies to take out some debt. It also provides good support for bonds."

Feb 25, 2008 - "With leveraged loans trading around 88 cents on the dollar, on average, as a result of the broader credit meltdown, the market is essentially expecting a 10% to 15% default rate, a level that's never been seen."

Feb 25, 2008 - "The hope is that there's something definitive that's been worked out to salvage the major bond insurers. The risk of the collapse of the bond insurers has been such a major weight on the markets."

Feb 25, 2008 - "The loan market is trading with a higher default rate than the junk bond market, very bizarre given that leveraged loans are secure debt and are senior to bonds in corporate capital structures."

Feb 22, 2008 - "Despite GMAC being a large component of the junk bond market, the news didn't cause any further selling pressure."

Feb 21, 2008 - "AbitibiBowater is also expected to comment on its debt refinancing plans, and the delay in reporting raised fears that the company will be unable to arrange a new credit facility in view of the distressed condition of the loan market."

Feb 19, 2008 - "Ventilation and air-conditioning maker Goodman Global's $800 million loan and axle supplier Dana Holding Corp.'s $1.4 billion loan both came with Libor floors. "I think it's going to be the new requirement for new deals to get done."

Feb 18, 2008 - "High-yield won't move {significantly} higher until the loan market sorts itself out. Loans have fallen to such levels that they're frequently quoted alongside the bonds.."

Feb 18, 2008 - "{The secured tranche} got a lot of attention as soon as it was announced, because it was replacing the term loan. People were asking if this was a new way to bypass the stalled loan market."

Feb 16, 2008 - "The yield on an index of 100 junk bonds tracked by KDP Investment Advisors hit a five-year high of 9.63% on Friday, up from 9.03% two weeks ago."

Feb 14, 2008 - "Even within the universe of high-yield bonds, we think that Freescale is one of the riskier credits."

Feb 13, 2008 - "GM could make a direct loan or back a loan to Delphi, among other options. Either way, GM's help would "increase the risk at GM by a significant degree over the next two years."

Feb 12, 2008 - "There's a very nervous credit market out there. It's a very poor climate for bringing new deals."

Feb 11, 2008 - "Investors in leveraged loans, such as collateralized loan obligation funds (CLOs) and hedge funds are reluctant to purchase the LBO loans because the decline in price on the secondary eats into returns according to observers like Kingman Penniman."

Feb 06, 2008 - "We opened soft and once stocks started to give up their gains, high-yield dropped."

Feb 06, 2008 - "Without the loan waiver, Standard Pacific may have been forced to repay the bank debt. In a "worst case" scenario, it could have been forced into bankruptcy."

Feb 05, 2008 - "CLO's were responsible for about 75% of demand for leveraged loans in last year's first half, according to KDP Investment Advisors."

Feb 03, 2008 - "It's very hard to see an environment where that overhang of debt is going to be cleared any time soon. But it does look like some of the bigger deals might not get done."

Jan 28, 2008 - "Market conditions don't always dictate where a deal will trade on the secondary. During the downturn that followed the summer's credit meltdown, deals for TECO Transport, CommScope, URS, ReAble Therapeutics, Enterprise GP, Mold-Masters, Liberty Electric, Univar, Nuveen and Dex Media East all traded either at par or at 99, according to KDP."

Jan 28, 2008 - "The resale, essentially dumping the bonds this morning, has put pressure on other Harrah's bonds as well as gaming bonds in general."

Jan 28, 2008 - "The bond underwriters are expected to sell the debt remaining on their balance sheets to investors in pieces, KDP Investment Advisors reported, much like how other LBO deals have been sold since the credit crunch began last summer."

Jan 26, 2008 - "We're repricing the market. The loan market has seen an almost 190 basis points {1.90 percentage points} loss in spreads because of Libor. The market is now saying we have to make it up, and yields are starting to come down, so {there's} pressure on loan prices to maintain or enhance the spread levels."

Jan 23, 2008 - "This is an industry in secular decline, hurt by the online and electronic move in advertising. Margins are under pressure from all corners."

Jan 17, 2008 - "The notes, issued by the insurance arm of MBIA Inc., at a yield of 14 percent, are now trading at a yield of about 20 percent, according to Justin Monteith, market analyst at high-yield research firm KDP Investment Advisors."

Jan 14, 2008 - "The risk of saturation is so high right now that it's hard to picture the scenario where one of these new LBO deals -- loan or bond -- would be very hot on the break and catalyze a bull market in high-yield."

Jan 12, 2008 - "The investors who bought the notes demanded a whopping 14% annual interest rate on their money, at least through 2013. This is far above the average corporate junk bond yield at 9.11%, according to bond tracker KDP Investment Advisors -- and a sign of how risky MBIA is perceived to be."

Jan 09, 2008 - "It's just been building momentum since the year started, every day the high-beta names have been down one or two points, it's just been a complete grind."

Jan 08, 2008 - "There is no question the banks will have to continue to discount paper. As an industry and as a sector, casinos are perceived to be more defensive than your cyclical companies and therefore more palatable."

Jan 07, 2008 - "Most of the LBOs in 2007 were highly levered. And in most cases it was not the business but the leverage which turned off investors."