Polish DTH provider and mobile operator Cyfrowy Polsat has commenced negotiations with a group of financial institutions over refinancing its senior debt.
Polsat stated that obtaining the refinancing is one of the pre-requisites for the company to…
Polish DTH provider and mobile operator Cyfrowy Polsat has commenced negotiations with a group of financial institutions over refinancing its senior debt.
Polsat stated that obtaining the refinancing is one of the pre-requisites for the company to complete its PLN5.15bn (US$1.65bn) merger with Polkomtel that was announced in November of last year.
The company is seeking to fully repay its €350m of 7.125% senior secured notes due 2018 as well as the PLN1.4bn (US$483.6m) 4.5-year term loan it raised in March 2011 to fund its purchase of parent company Telewizja (TV) Polsat.
Citi, Credit Agricole CIB, RBS and Deutsche Bank were joint bookrunners on the bond offering, while those first three banks plus Bank Handlowy w Warszawie led the loan transaction.
Polsat stated, though, that the composition of the group of financial institutions engaged in the refinancing talks “was not finally established on the date of commencement of the negotiations”.
Under the terms of the Polkomtel merger agreement, Cyfrowy is to issue 243.93 million new shares to the mobile operator’s sole owner Metelem Holding Company. Both Cyfrowy and Metelem are controlled by billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak.
The deal is expected to be completed by mid-2014 and would increase Cyfrowy’s total net debt to PLN12bn (US$3.85bn). This represents 3.1x the enlarged company’s pro forma EBITDA and Cyfrowy has stated that it wants to reduce this to below 2.5x by the end of 2016.
