Sixth Street Partners-backed Legends Hospitality is in talks with a group of private credit firms led by Ares Management Corp. and KKR & Co. to finance its potential acquisition of venue and events management company ASM Global, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The lender group, which also includes Apollo Global Management Inc. and Oaktree Capital Management, is in discussions to provide a $1.85bn financing package that would help pay for the takeover and refinance existing debt at Legends and ASM, said the people, who asked not to be named because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. Ares is administrative agent on the transaction, the people said.
The deal would include a $1.55bn unitranche loan, a $100m delayed-draw term loan and a $200m revolver, according to the people. The unitranche — a structure that blends senior and subordinated debt into a single facility — is expected to pay interest of six percentage points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate and would be issued at a discounted price of 97.5 cents on the dollar, they said.
Representatives for Sixth Street, Legends, ASM, Ares, KKR, Apollo, and Oaktree declined to comment. LevFin Insights first reported some details of the financing on Monday.
