Ancestry.com Refinancing Initiative
Ancestry.com Inc, the family‑history research and DNA‑testing firm, is seeking to refinance $1.75 billion of debt that was originally raised to fund its 2020 acquisition by Blackstone Group Inc‑managed private‑equity funds. The 2020 transaction valued the company at $4.7 billion.
The company is pitching a term loan that would carry an interest spread of 4 to 4.25 percentage points above the benchmark rate. The loan is being offered at a discounted price of between 98.5 cents and 99 cents on the dollar. In addition to the term loan, Ancestry.com plans to issue $500 million of high‑yield (junk) notes as part of the overall refinancing package.
The refinancing effort occurs amid a broader wave of leveraged‑loan activity, with roughly $241 billion of loans in the Bloomberg US Leveraged Loan Index slated to mature over the next few years. Approximately 80 % of this year’s US loan market issuance has originated from companies refinancing or repricing existing debt, illustrating strong demand for such transactions. Some borrowers, such as CoreLogic Inc., have had to offer comparable spreads to attract sufficient investor interest.
The proceeds from the new financing will be used to repay the existing loan that originally helped finance the $4.7 billion Blackstone‑backed acquisition.
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