Barclays Scraps Debt Plans for Former Yellow Pages Firm Hibu

Barclays Plc is no longer pursuing a debt deal for former Yellow Pages publisher Hibu Inc. that would have refinanced a private loan, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

(Bloomberg) — Barclays Plc is no longer pursuing a debt deal for former Yellow Pages publisher Hibu Inc. that would have refinanced a private loan, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The bank held preliminary discussions with investors about a $405 million leveraged loan for H.I.G. Capital-backed digital marketing company Hibu last month. The debt would have been used to pay a $120 million dividend to shareholders as well as refinance a $210 million loan that KKR & Co. provided to support H.I.G.’s acquisition of Hibu from Yell in 2021.

Barclays abandoned the efforts after seeing tepid interest from loan buyers, said the people, who asked not to be named as details of the discussions are private. A slide in average loan prices on renewed fears that interest rates may remain higher for longer has curbed new issuance in recent days, with fewer borrowers coming forward with transactions.

The bank was sounding out investors for the deal about an interest rate of roughly 5 percentage points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate.

Representatives for Barclays and KKR declined to comment, while representatives for H.I.G. and Hibu didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Premarketing efforts are used to help gauge investor appetite for debt, and do not always lead to a formal loan or bond offering.

Read more: Price Transparency on Junk Debt Deals Smoothes the Way for More

–With assistance from Jeannine Amodeo.

(Moves market context up to the third paragraph.)

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