Polish media group Cyfrowy Polsat has secured a PLN3bn (US$991.4m) credit facility with a syndicate of international banks, mostly to refinance debt.
The senior facilities agreement includes a term loan of up to PLN2.5bn (US$826.2m) and a multicurrency…
Polish media group Cyfrowy Polsat has secured a PLN3bn (US$991.4m) credit facility with a syndicate of international banks, mostly to refinance debt.
The senior facilities agreement includes a term loan of up to PLN2.5bn (US$826.2m) and a multicurrency revolver worth up to PLN500m (US$165.2m). Both loans mature on 11 April 2019.
ING Bank Slaski, PKO Bank Polski and Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking were the global coordinators for the transaction. Also involved were HSBC, Bank Millennium, Bank Pekao, Bank Zachodni, BNP Paribas Fortis, Credit Agricole, DNB Bank, Erste Group, mBank, PZU, Raiffeisen Bank, RBS Bank, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UniCredit.
Proceeds will be used to repay a PLN1.4bn (US$483.6m) 4.5-year term loan raised in March 2011 and €350m of 7.125% senior secured notes due 2018, as well as for general corporate purposes. They may also be used to repay PIK notes issued by a unit of Metelem Holding, the sole owner of mobile operator Polkomtel, which Cyfrowy has agreed to take over, along with acquisitions and “other distributions”.
The new senior facilities agreement also enables Cyfrowy, controlled by Polish businessman Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, to take on additional debt if it maintains a certain leverage ratio.
The refinancing forms part of the media group’s PLN5.15bn (US$1.65bn) merger with Polkomtel, also controlled by Solorz-Zak. The merger agreement will see Cyfrowy issue 243.93 million new shares to Metelem.
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.
