Silver Lake raises 1 bln euros in loans for Software AG takeover (updated)

Software AG

01/08/2023 16:20

(Adds details about loan pricing in paragraphs 3 and 4.)
       LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Silver Lake  SILAK.UL  on
Tuesday raised a 1 billion euro  ($1.10 billion) seven-year loan
to fund its takeover of Germany's Software AG  SOWGn.DE ,
breathing new life into the sluggish syndicated leveraged loan
market.
    The loan is split between 640 million euros and $405
million, paying a margin of 475 basis points (bps) over the
benchmark rate, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.
        Banks including JPMorgan  JPM.N , Citigroup  C.N  and
Banco Santander  SAN.MC  originally marketed the loan at a
margin of 500 bps, before tightening it to 475 bps during the
syndication process.
  
        The loan was also sold to investors at a price of 98.75
cents on the euro/dollar, implying a smaller discount than the
initial 97 cents on offer when the deal was launched on July 17.
  
    On July 20, the U.S. private equity firm announced it had
secured a 84.29% stake in Software AG, subject to closing of the
tender offer, adding that the transaction was expected to close
in the fourth quarter pending regulatory approvals.
    Software AG shares were last up 0.3% on the day in
Frankfurt. They have fallen by 13% since hitting a multi-month
high after Silver Lake's offer in April this year. 

 (Reporting by Chiara Elisei; Editing by Amanda Cooper)
 ((Chiara.Elisei@thomsonreuters.com;))