Goldman Sachs, through its direct lending arm, provided the financing for the privately placed $470m second lien loan to support the recent buyout of PANTHERx Rare by Warburg Pincus, according to 9fin sources.
The second lien loan priced at SOFR+600bps, sources added. It was placed last week alongside a $2.27bn first lien TLB due 2033, which was led by JP Morgan. The first lien tranche was upsized by $100m and tightened a sharp 75bps from the initial price talk, ending at SOFR+250bps. Sources said the banks narrowed the pricing after the loan interest came back multiple-times oversubscribed.
PANTHERx Rare is a distributor of “orphan drugs”, treatments that affect less than 200,000 Americans or require particular care in the delivery chain. Buysiders previously told 9fin that the company’s ability to win and maintain exclusive or near-exclusive rights to distribute treatments made for a compelling business model, despite carrying six turns of net leverage. Nor did claims by a hacker group last month that it stole thousands of financial documents and patient records from PANTHERx — and its stated deadline to release the documents next Monday — curb lender enthusiasm for the deal.
Spokespeople for Warburg, PANTHERx, Goldman and JP...
