AT&T has headed to the bond market for the second time this week to raise a further €2.10bn (US$2.85bn).
It will use the proceeds from the euro-denominated offering to repay five series of notes maturing between now and 2016 ahead of its US$48.5bn…
AT&T has headed to the bond market for the second time this week to raise a further €2.10bn (US$2.85bn).
It will use the proceeds from the euro-denominated offering to repay five series of notes maturing between now and 2016 ahead of its US$48.5bn takeover of DirecTV.
The European offering is divided between €1.6bn 2.4% global notes due 2024 and €500m of 3.375% global notes due 2034. The 2024 notes priced at 99.93 and the 2034 notes priced at 99.88.
Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and UBS are joint bookrunners on the offering.
AT&T said it would repay BellSouth Corporation’s 5.20% notes due later this year and 5.20% notes due 2016, its 0.875% global notes due 2015 and its 5.625% global notes due 2016, and US$750m of its 2.5% global notes due 2015.
The euro offering follows AT&T’s US$2bn placement of 4.8% global notes due 2024 earlier this week, which it is also using to repay maturing debt.
The Dallas, Texas-based telco is refinancing its US$79.9bn debt pile amid its US$48.5bn acquisition of DTH provider DirecTV, agreed last month.
According to credit rating agency Fitch, AT&T has US$4bn debt maturing this year and a further US$8.2bn next year. The consolidation of DirecTV will add a further US$18.3bn to its debt pile, and AT&T is reported to be looking to raise at least US$7.5bn through corporate bonds to fund the DirecTV consideration.
AT&T is said to be keen to limit its borrowing to protect its credit rating, and that was reported to factor in to its decision to purchase DirecTV ahead of Dish Network – an asset which analysts considered a more logical target, but which is more leveraged.
