Cloud 9fin

Electronic Arts’ proposed $55bn leveraged buyout has upended expectations for its 2031 and 2051 bonds.

Instead of pricing in a straightforward 101% change-of-control payout, investors are weighing a tender offer and potential defeasance strategy that could strip covenants and lower the takeout cost. With a potential downgrade looming, bondholders must decide whether they can resist the maneuver or accept a discounted exit.

Tune into our latest episode of Cloud 9fin, where senior legal analysts Chris Osborne and Anthony Park unpack this situation with senior credit analyst Steven Price.

Follow our reporting of the Electronic Arts takeover at 9fin.com.

Have any feedback on this episode? Send us a note at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

When traditional cashflow lending tightens, liquidity doesn’t always come from the usual places — sometimes lenders have to break companies into smaller, more financeable pieces.

Carving out working capital assets, which involves isolating and valuing receivables and inventory in standalone structures, has emerged as a go-to strategy for borrowers looking to unlock incremental capital without refinancing their entire capital stack.

On this episode of Cloud 9fin, Anna Russi speaks with Mitch Soiefer, partner and head of lender finance at SLR Capital Partners, to unpack how working capital assets are being carved out of traditional credit agreements to keep capital flowing, and why these structures tend to show up late in the credit cycle.

Have any feedback? Send us a note at [email protected] — thanks for listening!

Anyone who was in the LevFin market in 2022 may remember banks using term loan As to fill the financing gap when rising interest rates disrupted the syndicated loan market. That instrument has made a comeback — except this time, the TLA is no longer a back-up, but a tool to get larger financings done.

In this episode, Cloud 9fin deputy LevFin editor Sasha Padbidri sat down with reporter Yiwen Lu and senior reporter Sunny Oh, to discuss the resurgence of the so-called pro-rata market.

We broke down the key features of TLAs, how banks use them to differentiate themselves from direct lenders, and the evolving lender base of TLAs. We also discussed how it played out in recent jumbo buyouts, including Hologic.

Have any questions? Send us a note at [email protected]. You can also check out our feature on TLA here. Thanks for listening!

The leveraged finance markets saw a handful of leveraged buyouts keep pricing on their financing packages tight in January 2026. This was in spite of multiple geopolitical shocks and a sell-off in software loans as vibe coding comes into vogue.

To put it all into perspective in this episode of Syndication Nation on Cloud 9fin, US LevFin reporter Dan Mika caught up with AGL Credit Management’s Wynne Comer for the view from her seat and what last month’s action tells us about the rest of 2026.

Have any feedback? Reach out to us at [email protected] or to Dan at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

Ever signed up for a subscription, forgotten about it, and then been charged $100 a year later because it’s auto-renewed? Imagine doing the same, except add a few zeroes.

In this episode of Cloud 9fin, David Hahn of Davis Polk talks to reporters Tom Quinn and Yiwen Lu about the emergence of snooze/lose clauses in the US credit market: how they work (and crucially, how they work differently to Europe) and their impact on US voting mechanics.

Have any feedback? Send us a note at [email protected] — thanks for listening!

All eyes were on Ardagh’s CDS after Arini challenged its senior unsecured notes being included in the final list of deliverable obligations to settle contracts.

The fund manger argued that, because the bonds had already been marked to be equitised as of the CDS trigger date (when the restructuring was both effective and binding) then their outstanding principal balance should be zero — since they effectively no longer existed. Arini went on to claim that any finding that the bonds still had a non-zero OPB would turn them it into “Schrödinger’s Obligations” — existing in two incompatible states at once.

Tresidor and Laurion (the latter advised by Milbank) then joined the fight by issuing counter challenges defending the inclusion of the notes.

The challenge was eventually rejected by the EMEA Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee in a split vote, with Citi and Pimco dissenting on the decision. That result means SUNs will be included, and so Ardagh’s equity valuation will influence the final payout as part of an alternative asset package delivery mechanism to replace the bonds.

This hotly contested debate followed the DC having failed to achieve a supermajority ruling on the credit event trigger in the first place, which meant it had to call upon an external review panel of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. The panel of KCs determined the September tigger date, from which CDS contracts must pay out to protection holders, but did not specify how that payout would be handled at auction.

In this episode of Distressed Diaries, our host, senior distressed reporter Bianca Boorer, sits down with 9fin editor and our resident CDS expert Dan Alderson to go through the ins and outs of this rejected challenge and what it means for the CDS market as a whole.

In this episode of Cloud 9fin, our global head of Distressed and Levfin, Max Frumes, talks with Latin America editor Xóchitl Herrer about a potential workout of Venezuela's sovereign and sub-sovereign debt, following the US-led extraction of president Nicolás Maduro. They provide an overview of the claims against the South American country, the barriers to a quick restructuring deal, and whether Venezuela will be able to gain access to funding without one.

Find all our coverage on Venezuela at 9fin.com.

Have any feedback on the podcast? Send us a note at [email protected] and [email protected] — thanks for listening!

In this episode of Jane’s LME Addiction, our head of LME coverage Jane Komsky brings in Josh Brody and Kenneth Reinker from Cleary Gottlieb to discuss the Optimum Communications fka Altice USA antitrust litigation related to cooperation agreements. They provide an overview of the litigation and discuss the likelihood of success, the pitfalls of certain arguments, and whether this litigation is likely to impact how co-ops are formed.

Find all our coverage on co-ops and LMEs at 9fin.com.

Have any feedback on the podcast? Send us a note at [email protected] — thanks for listening!

Welcome back, Cloud 9fin listeners! To bring in the new year, 9fin’s Asia editor Richard Macauley and US deputy editor Sasha Padbidri kick off our first-ever Asia podcast by unpacking the first successful use of the cross-class cramdown provision in GP APAC’s restructuring — a move that established a legal milestone for Singapore’s restructuring and insolvency framework.

For more details, check out the full story here.

Have any feedback for us? Send a note to [email protected], or reach out to [email protected] to learn more about our APAC offering!

Happy Holidays, Cloud 9fin listeners! We hope you’re enjoying some much-needed down time as we prepare for what is to come in 2026. But for those who have a few more odds and ends to tend to, here’s one last episode of Syndication Nation, our leveraged finance-focused podcast series to keep us company.

In this episode, 9fin senior levfin reporter Dan Mika sits down with Mitch Garfin, co-head of leveraged finance at BlackRock, to discuss the dynamic landscape of high-yield bonds and leveraged loans as we approach the new year.

They explore the trends in bond issuance, the shift towards leveraged loans, and the impact of monetary policy on the market. Mitch shares insights on the evolving credit landscape, the role of private credit, and the anticipated challenges and opportunities in the coming year. Tune in for a deep dive into the world of liquid credit and what lies ahead for investors and issuers alike.

Have any questions? Send us a note at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!