(Bloomberg) -- Banco Santander is sounding out investors on a debt deal that would finance the development of a casino owned by Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The term loan could range between $200 million and $250 million, according to the initial terms, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. The proceeds would pay for the construction of a new casino resort located between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, they added.
Although pricing discussions are in the early stages, the loan may be offered as wide as 9 percentage points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, the people said. Conversations are preliminary and details of the financing may change, they added.
Spokespeople for both Santander and the Iowa Tribe declined to comment.
The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma would be the latest such nation to secure financing for a casino in the high-yield debt market, following others such as the Mohegan Tribe. Last year, the Iowa Tribe announced it had picked Caesars Entertainment, Inc. as the management partner for the resort, which will be branded as a Harrah’s casino.
The deal comes as Santander builds out its leverage finance platform, having made several high profile hires from Credit Suisse Group AG over the past year. Among them are bankers including Joel Kent, Jeff Cohen, Max Lipkind and Jonathan Moneypenny.
In the past few months, the bank has led a few deals in the broadly syndicated loan market. That includes a refinancing for Red Oak Power’s debt, which is still underway, as well as the repricing of Golden Entertainment Inc.’s term loan.
Companies have been piling into debt markets to sell bonds and loans in a borrowing blitz ahead of the upcoming US presidential election. On Tuesday, speculative-grade companies launched more than $17 billion of deals via the high-yield bond and leveraged loan markets, far outpacing last year’s post-Labor Day activity. A handful more followed on Wednesday.
(Updates with Iowa Tribe’s decline to comment.)
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