UK cableco Virgin Media has announced that its senior lenders have unanimously approved the proposed amendments to its £1.93bn senior credit facility.
The amendments to the facility, secured on 16 March 2010, and as amended and restated on 26 March 2010…
UK cableco Virgin Media has announced that its senior lenders have unanimously approved the proposed amendments to its £1.93bn senior credit facility.
The amendments to the facility, secured on 16 March 2010, and as amended and restated on 26 March 2010 and 15 February 2011, are effective as of 15 February 2011, the company announced today.
As such, Virgin will have more operational flexibility and additional options in accessing the capital markets under the SCF.
Furthermore, 96.2% of Term Loan A lenders under the SCF have agreed to defer their portion of the £200m amortisation payment due 30 June 2014, by one year, to 30 June 2015.
Following an earlier amendment dated 26 March to increase its flexibility, the group said it believes further adjustments are required to aid its operations and access to capital markets.
Announcing its proposed amendments on 2 February, Virgin said: “Key terms…include, amongst others, fixing total net leverage at not more than 3.75 times operating cash flow from year-end 2011 (reduced from 4.3 times for year-end 2011 under current terms), and increasing the ability of the company to incur secured debt to a maximum of three times operating cash flow.”
Virgin asked lenders to remove restrictions on using the facility’s proceeds for the payment of dividends or distributions to the group, and said it would offer them a fee of 20BP for agreeing to these proposed amendments.
Lenders to the company’s £1bn term loan A portion of the facility have been offered a fee of 15BP to extend a £200m amortisation payment, scheduled for June 2014, by a year.
“After giving pro forma effect to repayment of scheduled amortisations through 2013, totalling £525 million, this would result in total amortisations of £1.15bn in 2015, commensurate with the company’s prudent approach toward possible future refinancings,” Virgin Media stated.
BoA Merrill Lynch, BNP, Credit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank, GE Capital, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS and UBS arranged the facility last March.
