Blue Owl Capital Inc is leading a $3.2bn private debt financing to support the acquisition of Smartsheet Inc by Blackstone Inc and Vista Equity Partners for $8.4bn, with participation from 20 other lenders, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report cites an unnamed source familiar with the matter as revealing that the financing for the Smartsheet acquisition included a $2.9bn annual recurring revenue loan and a $300m revolving credit facility.
In an effort to secure the large group of direct lenders, Vista and Blackstone offered several concessions, including protections against liability management transactions.
The lenders involved in the Smartsheet deal include HPS Investment Partners, Farallon Capital Management, Elliott Capital Management, Carlyle Group Inc, Brinley Partners, GoldenTree Asset Management, Golub Capital, Monroe Capital Corp, New Mountain Capital, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Benefit Street Partners, AllianceBernstein Holding LP, Hercules Capital Inc, Cliffwater, Canyon Capital Advisors, Jefferies Credit Partners, Macquarie Group Ltd., and Brigade Capital Management. Blackstone’s and Vista’s credit divisions also participated.
The deal was priced at 6.5 percentage points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), which was in line with the original target range of 6.25 to 6.5 percentage points over the US benchmark rate. If Smartsheet chooses to pay part of the interest in kind, the rate would rise to 7 percentage points over SOFR.
