Apollo's Leon Black Asks Realogy's Bondholders to Swap at a Discount

Emmy Moody & Caroline Salas:

Leon Black's Apollo Management LP is leaning on investors to exchange more than $3 billion of bonds in Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and Realogy Corp. for new debt as it tries to avoid default.

Harrah's, the Las Vegas-based casino company acquired by Apollo and TPG Inc. in January, is offering holders of unsecured notes maturing from 2010 to 2018 as much as $2.1 billion of 10 percent second-priority senior secured notes due 2015 and 2018, according to a Nov. 14 statement.

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Realogy's $1.7 billion of 10.5 percent notes due 2014 fell 6.5 cents to 26.5 cents on the dollar on Nov. 14 to yield 52 percent, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.