By Max Bower
LONDON, June 25 (LPC) - Blackstone (NYSE:BX) BX.N has launched a US$5.5bn bridge loan to support the pending bond issuance for its acquisition of a majority stake in Thomson Reuters' TRI.TO Financial and Risk division (F&R), which is expected to complete later this year.
The US$5.5bn bridge loan is separate from an US$8bn equivalent term loan B portion of Blackstone's US$13.5bn loan and bond financing, which is also being shown to large institutional investors, Thomson Reuters LPC reported on Monday.
The financing package supports Blackstone's US$20bn acquisition of a 55% stake in Thomson Reuters' F&R unit, which includes LPC and IFR and is the largest buyout financing since the financial crisis.
The bridge loan includes a US$3bn, 7.5 year senior secured loan, which is split between US$2bn and US$1bn-equivalent euros, and an eight-year, US$2.5bn unsecured loan, which is split between US$1.8bn and US$700m-equivalent.
The structure mirrors the expected sizes of the bond tranches.
The senior secured tranche pays a margin of 400bp and the unsecured tranche has a margin of 625bp.
A 50bp commitment fee is included for tickets of at least US$150m on the secured tranche and 25bp is payable for all other ticket sizes.
The unsecured tranche has a 75bp commitment fee for tickets of at least US$50m and 50bp for all other commitments.
A call is scheduled for Wednesday with commitments due on July 9.
JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE:BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) are lead arrangers. JP Morgan is also the administrative agent.
(Editing by Tessa Walsh)