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Barclays Leads European Banks' Pursuit of Risky U.S. Debt

  • U.K. bank leads European peers arranging U.S. leveraged loans
  • Deutsche Bank is making more capital available for such deals
Barclays headquarters in London.

Barclays headquarters in London.

Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg
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When an indebted infant health-care company in Atlanta wanted to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to buy a rival in Pasadena, it turned to a lender thousands of miles away in London.

Barclays Plc is helping Aveanna Healthcare LLC get a $221 million loan for its purchase of Premier Healthcare Services LLC, adding to a $900 million debt last year. The deal will push Aveanna’s borrowings to more than 10 times its earnings and leave it with “little room for error,” S&P Global Ratings said.