Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter & Co. said late last week that it has received a commitment for $500 million of its $1.7 billion financing for Sunbeam Corp.
The commitment came Thursday, two days after a bank syndication meeting in which Al J. Dunlap, Sunbeam's chief executive, faced tough questioning from potential investors. The confrontation between Mr. Dunlap and bankers stemmed from a story critical of Mr. Dunlap and Sunbeam in Barron's on June 8.
"I don't think investors put much credence in the Barron's article," said R. Bram Smith, head of syndicated lending for Morgan Stanley. "We usually give people three weeks to commit to a loan. So right now it's too early to tell how we'll do."
Mr. Smith would not identify the $500 million institutional investor.
The deal was reduced from $2 billion after Sunbeam executives decided they were unlikely to use the $300 million difference, which was part of a revolving credit, Mr. Smith said.
The structure of the three-part loan is a $550 million seven-year term loan priced at the London interbank offered rate plus 2.25%; a $400 million seven-year revolving credit facility priced at Libor plus 2.25%; and an $750 million eight-and-a-half-year term loan priced at Libor plus 2.5%.
Those prices, however, are only initial. After a few months, the prices tick down closer to the original pricing levels, which were Libor plus 1.5% for the seven-year term loan and revolver, and Libor plus 1.75% for the eight-and-a-half-year term loan.
Mr. Smith said Morgan Stanley revised the pricing after a spate of bad news about Sunbeam's disappointing first quarter was released. Though the new pricing levels are improved, investors say they are still disappointed in the new pricing's diminishing returns.
The loan is being co-syndicated by BankAmerica Corp. and First Union Corp.
