Americas Leveraged Finance Weekly: Refis Power Post-Holiday Rebound; Nordic Data Center Deal Pulled

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The primary leveraged finance market came roaring back from the July 4 holiday this week, as issuers raced to get in ahead of the summer slowdown, leaning on a steady stream of refinancings as the first innings of an M&A revival emerged.

“We’re busy coming out of the holiday,” said Anthony DeRosa, managing director in leveraged finance at UBS. “Our level of activity is at a good pace right now and issuers are certainly trying to get in and out of the market ahead of a late summer slowdown.”

While refinancings still dominate new issuance, DeRosa pointed to the first signs of a fuller M&A pipeline that could eventually broaden debt supply.

“We are starting to see early signs of increased M&A pipeline activity that could lead to a pickup in new issue if pipeline building converts to deal activity in [the] near term,” he said, cautioning that a meaningful pickup in the primary market was unlikely to materialize over the summer and would more plausibly arrive after Labor Day.

The week’s largest refinancing came from Cotality, the property data and analytics company formerly known as CoreLogic, which launched a $4.28 billion term loan B via JP Morgan. Alongside $1 billion of new second lien debt, the deal will refinance the company’s entire capital structure, including senior secured notes due 2028 and its first and second lien term loans, as well as pay down $135 million in revolver borrowings. The five-year loan is guided at SOFR+425 bps with a 98.5 to 99 OID, and commitments are due Thursday, July 16.

Perhaps the most closely watched story this week was a rare stumble in the ripe AI infrastructure industry. Prime Data Centers subsidiary Elk Grove Village Property Topco LLC pulled its $600 million senior secured note offering after the Arctic Securities-led deal failed to attract sufficient investor demand in the Nordic market, as reported by Octus. The offering faced investor scrutiny throughout marketing due to concerns including the firm’s unusual levered HoldCo structure and its reliance on CoreWeave as a major tenant, as reported. Price talk was widened from the low- to high-9% area, but the bond was ultimately shelved past a revised commitment deadline.

The setback came just weeks after Prime priced a heavily oversubscribed $900 million bond deal in the U.S. market at 7.5%.

Elsewhere this week, Celsius Holdings, the energy drink and hydration company, returned to market to reprice its outstanding $695 million first lien term loan B due 2032. The UBS-led offering was talked in the SOFR+175 bps to 200 bps area and expected to price on July 9. The current offering marks a second repricing of Celsius’ $900 million TLB tied to its acquisition of Alani Nutrition in April 2025.

Among acquisition-related financings, XCL Education launched a $380 million TLB to back KKR’s purchase of a majority stake from TPG. The BNP Paribas-led loan, talked at SOFR+300 bps, alongside a $75 million delayed-draw tranche, marks Singapore-based XCL’s debut in the broadly syndicated market.

Student Transportation of America, or STA, also came to market with an $867 million repricing and a $200 million add-on to help fund M&A activity. Lead arranger BMO tightened talk to SOFR+250 bps and 99.75 OID from the initial SOFR+275 bps. The add-on will help fund STA’s acquisition of a special-needs student transportation provider operating in Illinois and Connecticut.

Further out, ABB Robotics is bringing a $600 million acquisition term loan via Goldman Sachs, guided at SOFR+400 bps to 425 bps, with commitments due July 21. Other deals in the forward calendar include Carrix’s $2.5 billion loan and $500 million delayed-draw tranche via BofA Securities and DwyerOmega‘s $2.2 billion loan via Barclays.

TreeHouse Foods‘ $1 billion repricing, led by RBC and talked at SOFR+375bps-400 bps, was still in the market past its July 9 deadline.

In the forward pipeline, U.S. Renal Care is seeking a potential high-yield bond to refinance its existing debt via Barclays, Octus reported this week. The offering would be a bond split between first lien and second lien to refinance the company’s 2028 notes and 2028 TLB, following strong first-quarter financial performance.

The market is in a good rhythm this month, according to sources, who noted strong investor appetite and attractive pricing terms for most deals, though the summer lull is approaching. Market participants say they expect the primary markets’ resilience to be tested after Labor Day, when the M&A pipeline is slated to bring a wave of new debt issuance.

For more information on potential deal activity, see Octus’ Deal Origination Pipeline.
 

Issuance by Use of Proceeds, Ex-Repricings

Issuance by use of proceeds for both loans and bonds but excluding repricings as of June 11 is shown in the charts below. For year-over-year comparisons, Octus provides data for the last 14 months.
 

Pricing by Rating

Average spreads and coupons for loans and bonds, respectively, by ratings band as of June 11 are detailed in the charts below. Because of the limited activity of CCC rated issuance, only the months with issuance are shown.

Pricing by ratings category is shown below:
 

In the secondary market, Getty Images’ $580 million term loan due 2030 plummeted this week to 75 from 86 since June 30, following Getty terminating its pending merger with Shutterstock, Octus reported.

The merger was called off after the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said that the deal would be approved after Shutterstock sells its editorial business, a clause that was not in the original merger agreement executed between the two companies in January 2025. S&P Global Ratings downgraded the company’s credit rating to CCC+ from B, stating that the terminated merger will strain Getty’s liquidity.

Top daily loan decliners and risers can be found in Octus’ Credit Cloud. A search for the largest bond decliners is HERE.

Average high-yield bond spreads sit at 270 bps, tighter than last week, according to ICE BofA data. The LSTA Leveraged Loan Index was indicated at 96.86, up slightly from last week.

Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings downgraded the following companies this week:
 

• Syniverse Holdings Inc.
• Harley-Davidson Inc.
• Century Communities
• Athletico Holdings LLC
• Padagis LLC
• CHC Group Ltd.
• Mega Broadband Investments LLC
• Cable One, Inc.
• Top Build

The Octus Covenants analyses of the documentation for new loan transactions can be found HERE.

Octus’ Private Company Analysis recent reports can be found HERE.

Octus’ Fundamentals Coverage Weekly Update highlights new-issuer coverage in Fundamentals for the syndicated credit universe, alongside transcripts for syndication calls.