RBC-Led Banks Offer Juicy Yield to Offload Last of Tenneco Debt

(Bloomberg) -- A group of lenders led by Royal Bank of Canada launched a roughly $365 million bond sale to offload debt they’ve been stuck with since Apollo Global Management Inc.’s buyout of Tenneco Inc. in 2022.

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The debt deal is being discussed at a discounted price of 87 to 88 cents on the dollar, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, and is being offered at a coupon of 11%, according to bond documents seen by Bloomberg. The notes, which are rated Caa1 by Moody’s Ratings and mature in 2029, are expected to price Wednesday.

Proceeds, along with cash on hand, will be used to repay a portion of the company’s senior unsecured bridge facility.

Apollo and RBC declined to comment. A representative for Tenneco didn’t respond to a request for comment.

In total, the financing package for Apollo’s buyout of the auto-parts maker was $5.4 billion. The size of the bridge facility that was not sold by banks was $1 billion.

Tenneco bought back $103.5 million in principal of the facility as of the end of March for $88 million, according to bond-offering documents. Affiliates of Apollo purchased $532 million of the debt at the end of 2023, the documents show.

Tenneco was a particularly challenging transaction for a group of banks, with the debt lingering on their balance sheets as risk appetite waned during the Federal Reserve’s regime of interest-rate hikes. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. sold more than $3 billion in bonds and loans in August at a discounted price of 85 cents on the dollar.

However, the banks were able to clip hefty coupon payments, easing some of the pain.

(Updates with RBC declining to comment in the fourth paragraph.)

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