(Bloomberg) — Wall Street lenders are postponing leveraged-finance deals as investors shy away from risky transactions while global markets convulse in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
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In the past several days, banks have pushed at least two leveraged-loan sales to the sidelines, according to people with knowledge of the transactions who asked not to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak publicly.
They involve funding for HIG Capital LLC’s planned purchase of Canadian firm Converge Technology Solutions Corp. and a dividend to ITG Communications LLC owner Oaktree Capital Management. Lender commitments for both deals were due last week.
There had been six US leveraged-loan transactions pulled from syndication this year before the moves involving Converge and ITG. Bank of Montreal and Banco Santander SA, which were respectively left leads on the Converge and ITG financings, declined to comment Monday along with Oaktree. Representatives for HIG and Converge didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
US leveraged-loan prices had their biggest two-day drop in five years to end last week, according to a Morningstar LSTA index. Average prices are at 95 cents on the dollar, the lowest since November 2023.
Banks had underwritten tens of billions of dollars worth of buyout financings that they had hoped to syndicate through the leveraged-loan and junk-bond markets.
Lenders typically sell the funding they commit to provide for an acquisition before said deal closes. But the recent shutdown of US debt capital markets has increased the prospect of banks being left with so-called hung debt if takeovers close before financing can be syndicated to investors. In such a case, the lenders are forced to fund the loans.
That could occur on financing for ABC Technologies Holdings Inc.’s purchase of TI Fluid Systems Plc that has an April 15 closing deadline. A $900 million leveraged loan hadn’t attracted enough demand from investors, Bloomberg reported last week, and a $1.325 billion junk bond sale hasn’t launched.
Also in the market are a combined $2.35 billion of bonds and loans to help fund the takeover of Patterson Cos., whose operations range from dental equipment to pharmaceuticals for animals. Expectations when the deals were unveiled were that both debt sales would be completed this week.
