We continue our special series on high-yield bonds with a look at more deals in the market. Our tour guide on this trip, Matthew Fuller of LevFin Insights, identified several transactions as signs of market recovery.

Northwest Fiber (Caa1/CCC), with a new issuer name, Ziply Fiber, came out with a loan/bond buyout of Frontier Communication assets by Searchlight Capital and Wave Division Capital. This could grease the skids for other regular-way LBOs, Fuller said.

He continued. “Despite a slow start, Ziply was modestly oversubscribed, priced with a 10.75% coupon at 98; better than early price whispers as high as 11.25% and 95. Moreover, the paper rocketed once freed to trade; bid up to 104 after trading in large blocks at 103.75. It helped that a sponsor holding company vehicle took down a $25 million block of the $250 million deal in a privately negotiated transaction.