SAI Global debt loans in line for trade

Baring acquired SAI Global in 2016 for $1.2bn

SAI Global is once again under scrutiny by members of the distressed debt community, with some betting that loans to the information services provider could be about to trade.

The thinking is that the Term Loan B debt, which may amount to more than $1bn, could trade for about 85c in the dollar.

Separately, Partners Group is understood to have a loan facility to SAI Global worth about $160m and that may also be subject to a sale.

The challenge for SAI Global has always been too much debt and the fact that its business plan was not playing out as expected.

Earnings are thought to be suffering amid the COVID-19 outbreak, as is the case with most companies.

Last year SAI Global’s owner, Baring Private Equity, hired Macquarie Capital to advise on plans for the group as it looked to sell its information services and mortgage services operations.

The assets were expected to fetch a dollar price in the low hundreds of millions. However, the assets were never divested.

The SAI Global Information Services business provides a ­database of regulatory information from areas including land registries, court filings and the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, for use by groups such as banks and law firms.

Outfits such as Link Group, which owns Pexa, may be interested in some of its operations.

Baring acquired SAI Global in 2016 for $1.2bn.

The group is among a number within the hands of a private ­equity group wrestling with high debt levels.

However, buyout funds frequently are able to refinance the assets with their own equity.