HCA Holdings executives have replaced a $2.37 billion term loan that will mature in 2018 with a similar facility that has a lower interest rate. Bloomberg reported last week the company also wants to refi another $2 billion loan that's due in 2017.

Delek Logistics Partners, which went public last November, will next month send out its first full quarterly dividend, a payment of 38.5 cents per limited partnership unit. That's almost 3 percent more than its minimum and a number that Chairman and CEO Uzi Yemin expects to go up again in three months.

“Based on expected performance, we anticipate recommending to the Board of Directors of Delek Logistics’ general partner an additional increase in our quarterly distribution to $0.395 per unit for the quarter ending June 30, 2013. This would represent a 5.3 percent increase from our minimum quarterly distribution of $0.375 per unit and a 2.6 percent increase from our current distribution of $0.385 per unit.”

Delek Logistics LP units (Ticker: DKL) are up almost 30 percent so far this year, valuing the pipeline spinoff from Delek US Holdings at more than $700 million.

Bloomberg reported Thursday afternoon that HCA Holdings executives are hitting up the banking world for a $2 billion loan that would refinance some of their existing debt. The move, wrote Sridhar Natarajan, comes after the nation's largest for-profit hospital operator reworked the interest rate on its $2.37 billion term loan maturing in 2018.

Nashville-based HCA (Ticker: HCA) has two $2 billion loans on its books: One is a senior secured term loan maturing at the end of March 2017, the other a senior secured revolving credit facility maturing in November 2016 that was undrawn at the end of 2012. The company finished last year with almost $29 billion of long-term debt on its books.

If recent corporate finance history is any guide, look for HCA to land more than $2 billion. In the past few years, the company has repeatedly upsized debt sales.

Corrections Corp. of America is front and center in a Sunday New York Times story about the growing corporate trend of converting from a standard corporation to a real estate investment trust.

The Nashville-based prison operator (Ticker: CXW) expects to save $70 million on a REIT conversion in 2013 and recently announced a $675 million special dividend payout to shareholders, or about $6.63 per share.

One industry analyst tells the Times the interest in REIT conversion is the highest it’s been in 30 years. Another analyst says he expects more conversions to come in railroads, highways, mines, landfills, vineyards, farmland or other immovable structures that generate revenues. 

The tax savings and potential benefit to shareholders of REIT conversions can’t be denied, but the trend worries some industry experts. Some think it could jeopardize the tax status of traditional trusts, while others question the need for more tax-saving strategies for corporations when there are already so many available.

CCA isn’t the only local corporation jumping on the REIT train. Gaylord Entertainment reorganized as a REIT late last year and changed its name to Ryman Hospitality Properties (Ticker: RHP).

Ryman Hospitality Properties has wrapped up the big refinancing that increases its main debt facility to $1 billion from $925 million and pushes its maturity from August 2015 to April 2017. The new package has more revolving debt — $700 million versus $525 million — and lowers its rate by 25 basis points.

“This refinancing of our bank credit facility, coupled with the recent completion of our senior notes offering, further strengthens our balance sheet and enhances our flexibility to take advantage of strategic growth opportunities moving forward,” said Chairman, President and CEO Colin Reed. “Given the extremely attractive rates at which we were able to complete these transactions, we are confident that the timing was right and that they are in long-term best interest of our Company and our shareholders.”

Bankers have priced the $1.3 billion in new notes being issued by Dollar General. The company's new 2018 debt has been priced at 1.875 percent while the 2023 notes have an interest rate of 3.25 percent. The $1.9 billion in senior secured term loans being paid off carried an interest rate of 3 percent as of Feb. 1, the company's asset-based lending facility's rate was a little lower.