REFILE-RLPC-Endemol restarts sale of 2.2 bln euro buyout loan

(Refiles to remove RIC)

By Tessa Walsh

LONDON May 15 (Reuters) - Television production company Endemol's management will meet investors in London and New York next week to assess investor interest in buying the company's 2.2 billion euro buyout loan, senior bankers close to the deal said on Thursday.

The loan forms part of Europe's $116 billion pipeline of unsold leveraged loans that were stranded by the credit crunch in mid 2007, according to Reuters Loan Pricing Corp data. They are now being revisited after an improvement in secondary market prices, including Alliance Boots' 9.02 billion pounds loan.

Endemol is seeking to take advantage of interest from US investors, which currently have fewer opportunities to consider as the US market has made faster progress on selling its pipeline of hung leveraged loans.

Endemol is a global business with substantial US assets including Endemol USA, and $525 million of the loan is denominated in dollars.

Endemol will hold investor meetings in New York on May 20th and in London on May 21st and 22nd with a view to selling down the first lien, second lien and mezzanine debt, bankers said.

"We are soliciting interest on all parts of the capital structure with a view to assessing the level of interest by the end of the month," a banker close to the deal said.

The loan backed Endemol's 3.6 billion euro purchase last May by a group of investors in May 2007, including Mediaset, Jon de Mol's investment firm Cyrte and the investment arm of Goldman Sachs.