Italian wireless carrier Wind Telecomunicazioni has issued a senior secured loan to pay down debt.
Proceeds from the loan will be used to repay a €100m revolving credit facility and partially repay €1.7bn in existing term loans.
The outstanding…
Italian wireless carrier Wind Telecomunicazioni has issued a senior secured loan to pay down debt.
Proceeds from the loan will be used to repay a €100m revolving credit facility and partially repay €1.7bn in existing term loans.
The outstanding balance will be funded with proceeds from the recently-announced €693m tower sale to Spanish infrastructure company Abertis and new debt instruments.
As part of the deal, an old €600m credit facility will be replaced with a new €400m facility.
Banca IMI, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and HSBC are leading the refinancing.
Fitch, which rated the transaction BB-, said that highly-leveraged Wind, which reported nearly €10bn in net debt as of 30 September 2014, has managed slowly to increase its subscriber market share, but argued that this is not sufficient to protect it from absolute revenue and EBITDA declines.
“The weak economic environment in Italy continues to weigh on customer sentiment,” the ratings agency wrote in a note.
The number three operator, which is owned by Russia-focused Vimpelcom, has long rumoured to be in tie-up talks with Hutchinson Whampoa’s 3 Italia, although neither party has officially confirmed this.
According to Fitch, Vimpelcom’s support has been modest so far, mainly consisting of a €500m cash contribution in conjunction with PIK-notes refinancing in 1H14, fuelling market speculation that it might consider existing the Italian market altogether.
