Hologic’s $8.75 Billion of Buyout Loans See Strong Demand (1)

The $8.75 billion debt financing tied to the buyout of medical-device maker Hologic Inc.has been widely considered the leveraged loan market’s first big test of the year. The final results sent a clear signal that demand for risky debt is strong.

Wall Street banks leading the offering — including Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc — made several changes to the deal on Wednesday that included lower borrowing costs and the lenders holding less of the leveraged-buyout debt themselves. That’s an encouraging signal for banks that underwrote about $65 billion of debt for buyouts for ...