Hammond Hanlon Camp LLC Advises Mercy Iowa City on $41.8 Million Refinancing, Sale of Medical Office Portfolio

posted on March 22, 2019

 

NEW YORK — Hammond Hanlon Camp LLC (“H2C”), a healthcare-focused strategic advisory and investment banking firm, through its wholly-owned subsidiary H2C Securities Inc. (“H2C”), served as the exclusive financial advisor to Mercy Iowa City (“Mercy”) on a year-long, multiphase process to restructure and strengthen the system’s balance sheet. The series of transactions reduced overall debt while adding unrestricted liquidity and committed fixed- rate capital, leading in part to a rating upgrade from Moody’s Investors Service:

 

• On May 20, 2018, Mercy refinanced its Series 2008 Variable Rate Demand Bonds and terminated an interest-rate swap by issuing the Series 2018 Bonds, a fixed-rate private placement with a 17-year commitment, and a five-year call option.

• On June 21, 2018, Mercy closed the sale/leaseback of its UDM medical office building.

• On Feb. 28, 2019, Mercy closed the sale/leaseback of a portfolio of six medical office and clinic buildings. 

 

Moody’s downgraded Mercy from Baa2 to B1 (negative outlook) in August 2017, which resulted in a violation of the ratings covenant under the Letter of Credit Agreement that supported the Series 2008 VRDBs. H2C began working with Mercy on a strategy to refinance the debt and strengthen Mercy’s capital position. As financial advisor, H2C’s primary goal was to secure new long-term committed capital to refinance Mercy’s Series 2008 VRDBs, which would limit liquidity risk for the health system. A secondary objective was to maintain refinancing flexibility to take advantage of future ratings upgrades when operating performance improved further.  

 

H2C conducted a competitive credit selection process and worked closely with management to highlight the critical steps Mercy had taken to improve the system’s operating performance and financial position. After discussions with more than 30 potential credit providers, Mercy ultimately selected a bond fund that could provide the permanent capital and refinancing flexibility.

 

In addition, H2C advised Mercy on two separate real estate transactions comprising seven medical office buildings totaling over 93,000 square feet.  H2C conducted a competitive process that included contacting national, regional, and local investors and resulted in numerous competitive acquisition proposals for the sale/lease back transaction. The two transactions generated approximately $28 million, which Mercy used to reduce overall debt levels and create liquidity to use toward strategic initiatives.  

 

The cumulative impact of the turnaround steps taken by Mercy’s management and the transactions executed by H2C resulted in a rating upgrade from by Moody’s from B1 (negative outlook) to Ba2 (positive outlook). Moody’s cited the elimination of the technical default, added stability, and permanent pay down of debt as factors contributing to the upgrade.

 

“H2C ran a competitive credit selection process that met Mercy Iowa City’s goals of a long-term commitment and call flexibility while swiftly executing the sale of its medical office,” said Rich Bayman, Principal, H2C. “Our efforts not only positioned Mercy Iowa City for a credit upgrade, but also provided the Hospital with strong financial footing.” Email Rich. 

 

“H2C’s work with Mercy Iowa City positioned our organization for a credit upgrade and protected our ability to meet the healthcare needs of the communities we serve,” says Doug Davenport, CFO, Mercy. “We’re grateful to H2C for helping us achieve our objectives in such a short period of time.”