(Bloomberg) -- Alegeus Technologies has hit delays in refinancing private credit debt, a rare struggle for what’s been a historically busy US leveraged loan market.
A week after commitments on a planned $525 million five-year term loan were due, Alegeus’ deal remains in discovery with no update yet to come forward as of Tuesday morning, according to people with knowledge of the matter who requested not to be named discussing private information.
The software firm, which focuses on employee health benefits, generates some of its revenue from holding cash in interest-bearing accounts. A declining rate environment could put that cash source under pressure, giving some investors pause, the people said. Investors are also seeking stronger protections against transferring assets, one of the people said.
The deal’s delay comes as borrowers have been refinancing debt taken out from private credit lenders, swapping it with lower-cost broadly syndicated loans. Alegeus could save about $75 million with the new loan, Bloomberg previously reported.
The offering launched Sept. 19, with Alegeus set to use the proceeds from the transaction to refinance debt and pay a dividend to owner Vista Equity Partners. Representatives for Vista and for Bank of America Corp., which is leading the new loan, declined to comment.
Alegeus’ loan didn’t include financial maintenance covenants, known as cov-lite and common within the industry, according to a report from S&P Global Ratings, which assigned a B- rating to the proposed loan. But the offering has looser restrictions around transferring intellectual property to unrestricted subsidiaries to raise new cash, one of the people told Bloomberg.
Requesting document changes is standard procedure when negotiating leveraged loans, and cov-lite loans are the norm in many cases. In recent years, investors have advocated for blockers to protect themselves in the event that companies try to shift collateral away from them to raise fresh financing.
S&P and Moody’s Ratings also raised concern about company revenues in a falling rate environment. Though Alegeus has put strategies in place to hedge against potential revenue pressure, “longer-term exposure to low interest rate environments remains a credit risk,” Moody’s Ratings said in a report.
US leveraged-loan pricings have already reached their second-highest annual level, thanks to record levels of repricings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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