A $2bn bond sale from UK insurance broker The Ardonagh Group, whose major shareholders include Madison Dearborn Partners and HPS Investment Partners, will be managed by a group of Wall Street banks led by Morgan Stanley and The Goldman Sachs Group instead of a potentially record-breaking $5bn private credit loan, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The banks’ loan comprises a mix of secured and unsecured bonds denominated in US dollars and euros. Private credit firms will still provide a loan package of over $3bn, though Ardonagh had originally considered a private loan of as much as $5bn to refinance debt, reorganise its balance sheet and fund acquisitions. According to Bloomberg’s data, this would have ranked as the largest direct-lending deal on record — and yet another win for the $1.7tn private credit market.
Ardonagh previously secured what was — at the time — the biggest-ever loan from a group of private credit funds in 2020.
Pricing for the three-part bond sale is expected this week.
