Cision Ltd., the PR software provider acquired by Platinum Equity through a $2.74 billion take-private, has formed a new holding company, which could signal a near-term asset sale or collateral transfer.
Purchased in 2020, the business has total leverage of around $2.5 billion, including a $1.2 billion first-lien term loan that’s been trading at distressed levels through the second half of the year, most recently quoted at 66 cents on the dollar.
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Moody’s downgraded Cision to Caa1 earlier this year and warned against flat-to-down revenue growth as its PR Newswire business deals with a fall-off in capital markets and M&A-related demand.
Cision’s structural change was selectively disclosed to certain lenders without a detailed explanation of the decision, according to unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg—mirroring tactics used in other distressed situations to create optionality for liability management transactions.
According to the same sources, Chief Executive Cali Tran departed Cision shortly after the communication. Neither Platinum nor Cision acknowledged the departure, which comes less than two years into Tran’s tenure.