Saga sets sail with £450m HPS refinancing boost
Saga sets sail with £450m HPS refinancing boost
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Saga, the financial services and travel provider to the over-50s, is tapping one of the world's biggest investment firms as part of a refinancing aimed at relieving pressure on its balance sheet. Sky News has learnt that London-listed Saga is lining up HPS - which is in the process of being taken over by the asset management behemoth BlackRock - to help refinance more than £450m of its existing debt.
Financiers said an agreement was likely to be announced alongside a scheduled trading update from the company on Thursday morning. Money latest: People who only watch Netflix or Disney 'may have to pay BBC licence fee'. The debt involved in the deal comprises a bond, a loan from chairman Sir Roger De Haan and Saga's revolving credit facility.
A refinancing will be a boost to Saga, which has been weighed down by a debt pile which is huge relative to the value of its equity. It will come months after the company struck a partnership deal with the Belgian insurer Ageas, which involves a series of cash payments to the British business.
More than 130 Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches to close. Money blog: Ryanair boss launches blistering attack on chancellor. Lidl wins legal battle to open first ever in-store pub in Northern Ireland. In February last year, it also held talks with Open, an Australian company, about a sale of the division but the discussions fell apart.