2. Why does Cox Enterprises believe that the investment needed for growing its cable business is best done
through a private company structure?
Financing Challenges in the Home Depot Supply Transaction
Buyout firms Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) bid $10.3 billion in June 2007 to buy
Home Depot Inc.’s HD Supply business. HD Supply represented a collection of small suppliers of construction
products. Home Depot had announced earlier in the year that it planned to use the proceeds of the sale to pay for a
portion of a $22.5 billion stock buyback.
Three banks, Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan Chase, and Merril Lynch agreed to provide the firms with a $4 billion
loan. The repayment of the loans was predicated on the ability of the buyout firms to improve significantly HD
Supply’s current cash flow. Such loans are normally made with the presumption that they can be sold to investors, with
the banks collecting fees from both the borrower and investor groups. However, by July, concern about the credit
quality of subprime mortgages spread to the broader debt market and raised questions about the potential for default of
loans made to finance highly leveraged transactions. The concern was particularly great for so–called “covenant–lite”
loans for which the repayment terms were very lenient.
Fearing they would not be able to resell such loans to investors, the three banks involved in financing the HD
Supply transaction wanted more financial protection. Additional protection, they reasoned, would make such loans
more marketable to investors. They used the upheaval in the credit markets as a pretext for reopening negotiations on
their previous financing commitments. Home Depot was willing to lower the selling price thereby reducing the amount
of financing required by the buyout firms and was willing to guarantee payment in the event of default by the buyout
firms. While Bain, Carlyle, and CD&R were willing to increase their cash investment and pay higher fees to the banks,
they were unwilling to alter the original terms of the loans. Eventually the banks agreed to provide financing consisting
of a $1 billion “covenant–lite” loan and a $1.3 billion “payment–in–kind” loan. Home Depot agreed to assume the loan
payments on the $1 billion loan if the investor firms were to default and to lower the selling price to $8.5 billion for
87.5 percent of HD Supply, with Home Depot retaining the remaining 12.5 percent.
By the end of August, Home Depot had succeeded in raising the cash needed to help pay for its share repurchase,
and the banks had reduced their original commitment of $4 billion in loans to $2.3 billion. While they had agreed to put
more money into the transaction, the buyout firms had been successful in limiting the number of new restrictive
covenants.
Case Study Discussion Questions:
1. Based on the information given it the case, determine the amount of the price reduction Home Depot accepted
for HD Supply and the amount of cash the three buyout firms put into the transaction?
2. Why did banks lower their lending standards in financing LBOs in 2006 and early 2007? How did the lax
standards contribute to their inability to sell the loans to investors? How did the inability to sell the loans once
made curtail their future lending?