Dividend deals are back

摘要

Picard's private equity owners are looking to strip €602m of cash out of the business through new bonds, the largest dividend recapitalisation deal the European high-yield market has seen since Phones 4U went bust in September. Dividend recapitalisations, where a company raises new debt to pay a distribution to shareholders, have been an emotive topic in high-yield since the collapse of the UK mobile phone retailer last year. Phones 4U raised £205m with a PIK toggle to pay a multi-million pound dividend to private equity firm BC Partners in September 2013, but went into administration almost exactly a year later.