Other private credit funds in the deal include Blackstone and GIC
Private credit funds, including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Blackstone Inc.'s credit unit, and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, have made major contributions to a record €4.5 billion ($4.9 billion) loan for the buyout of Adevinta ASA, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
The deal, led by a private equity consortium led by Permira and Blackstone, valued the European classifieds company at €14 billion, including debt.
The buyout loan, structured as a unitranche—which is a blend of senior and subordinated debt—has set a record in the private credit market, surpassing a $4.8 billion unitranche loan for Finastra Group Holdings Ltd. Adevinta also secured a €250 million revolving credit facility, bringing the total financing to €4.75 billion.
The unitranche was issued at 5.75 percentage points over the Euro Interbank Offered Rate and at a discounted price of 98 cents on the dollar. This favorable financing structure further highlights the growing importance of the $1.6 trillion private credit market as a preferred source for buyout funding.
Despite high competition from banks, private credit firms emerged as the preferred choice for underwriting the financing and selling it to investors.
Banks' proposals were less appealing, partly because of their reluctance to offer a package entirely denominated in euros due to the weakened state of the European leveraged loan market, according to a previous Bloomberg report.
Adevinta’s lender group, which includes CPP Investments, Blackstone, GIC, Intermediate Capital Group Plc., Arcmont Asset Management, Sixth Street Partners, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s asset management arm, participated in this landmark financing.
Other contributors include PSP Investments, Apollo Global Management Inc., Blue Owl Capital Inc., Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Oaktree Capital Management, and Oak Hill Advisors, the sources said.
