Schaeffler | |
Size | €8 billion senior secured refinancing package |
Date | February 2012 |
Mandated lead arrangers | BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan, LBBW, Royal Bank of Scotland, UniCredit |
Global coordinators and managing bookrunners | BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and JPMorgan |
Lead bookrunners for bonds | Commerzbank, LBBW, RBS, UniCredit |
return to the Global Deals of the Year index |
Reflecting on the jumbo senior secured €8 billion refinancing package for Schaeffler, a German auto parts supplier, an investor says: "While exposure to the cyclical automotive sector would have normally have made this a nonstarter, the diversity offered by a new European levered corporate deal combined with an ebitda of €2 billion-plus made it a must-do."
Schaeffler’s refinancing, completed in February 2012, certainly offered diversity and exposure to healthy corporate earnings. Beyond that, though, the entire package also had everything in it from structural complexity and innovation, to execution in multiple products across two markets, and a watershed moment for European high-yield investors to boot.
Mix in to all of that the company’s ambitious recent history, and the refinancing is not just a standout deal, but also a positive end to a saga in which Schaeffler seemingly lost its bearings.