US telco Charter Communications has successfully closed on a US$750m loan due 2019 and a new US$1.15bn revolving credit facility due 2017.
The new term loan has been used to refinance term loans maturing in 2014, while the revolver has refinanced the…
US telco Charter Communications has successfully closed on a US$750m loan due 2019 and a new US$1.15bn revolving credit facility due 2017.
The new term loan has been used to refinance term loans maturing in 2014, while the revolver has refinanced the company’s existing US$1.3bn revolver.
The pricing for the new term loan was set at Libor plus 300bp. It was issued at an original issue discount (OID) of 0.5%.
The company said the proceeds of this new loan have been used to refinance the company’s term loans B-1 and B-2, both of which are due in 2014. The remaining proceeds were used to refinance part of Charter’s term loan C due 2016.
According to a Fitch release in late March, term loan B-1 had US$78m outstanding, term loan B-2 US$10m outstanding, and term loan C US$3bn outstanding.
Charter has also organised a new US$1.15bn revolver due 2017, which has an interest rate of LIBOR plus 225bp.
This was used to refinance Charter’s existing US$1.3bn extended revolving credit facility due 2015.
Charter said that additional amounts drawn under the new revolving facility had been used to pay transaction-related expenses and fees.
The joint lead arrangers and bookrunners for the new facilities were BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and UBS.
In its release on 29 March, Fitch said that the transactions were in line with Charter’s strategy to simplify its capital structure and extend its maturity profile.
“Fitch believes that Charter’s financial strategy will begin to shift from its balance sheet to enhancing shareholder returns during 2012 given that the company is approaching its leverage of between 4 times (x) and 4.5x,” the ratings agency said.
