Playboy gets a $180 mn loan in bid to go private: LPC

Jefferies is leading a USD 180 million term loan backing a bid by founder Hugh Hefner to take Playboy Enterprises Inc private, banking sources told Thomson Reuters LPC on Tuesday.

The launch date for the term loan has not yet been determined, said the sources, who declined to be identified because the deal is private.

Icon Acquisition Holdings LP, which Hefner controls, plans to buy Playboy's shares along with Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. Playboy has about USD 115 million in debt.

Some investors will not even open the book on this deal from an image perspective, said one portfolio manager, although he noted the deal is small enough to get done.

"This will have to be sold as reinventing the company," said the manager, who is not an investor in the company.

The transaction values the company at about USD 207 million, or USD 6.15 a share.

Playboy shares rose 17% on Monday following the deal's announcement to close at USD 6.09 a share. They were unchanged in Tuesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hefner owns about 70% of Playboy's Class A common stock and 28% of its Class B stock. He and another large shareholder, Plainfield Asset Management, plan to transfer their shares in the deal.

Playboy has been publicly traded since 1971. It was founded by Hefner in 1953 with USD 600.