Good evening,

TPG Telecom is about to pull the trigger on a $2 billion refinancing, and that’s important for two reasons.

First up, all of TPG’s debt is floating rate and unhedged. High rates have upped the telco’s debt service costs and encroached on profit margins, even though TPG has cut net debt and sold off its tower assets in recent years.

So come deal day, the telco would be working hard to lock in a structure and price that shareholders like at its half-year results in late August.

The other reason why the refinancing is significant is a little more selfish. The deal is likely to print paltry fees for banks that are mandated. But bankers would be pitching hard for a role, in hopes of a chunky credit for the league tables plus the opportunity to get cosy with TPG for its future (and higher-fee) capital markets needs.

Elsewhere, we dug deeper into Guzman Y Gomez’s boss Steven Marks’ hush-hush departure, last year’s abandoned M&A target Genex Power had some movement on its register, and Jefferies’ poaching from rival investment banks continued.

Happy reading,

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Street Talk editors