Deal-hungry AT&T has priced a 4.6% US$2.62bn note offering maturing in 2045 at par.
Proceeds from the bond, which will be listed on Taiwan’s GreTai Securities Market, will be used for general corporate purposes including acquisition related payments,…
Deal-hungry AT&T has priced a 4.6% US$2.62bn note offering maturing in 2045 at par.
Proceeds from the bond, which will be listed on Taiwan’s GreTai Securities Market, will be used for general corporate purposes including acquisition related payments, the company said in a securities filing.
Morgan Stanley was global restructuring agent and coordinator on the deal, while MasterLink Securities and Mega International Commercial Bank acted as joint bookrunners.
The transaction was assigned A, A- and A3 ratings by Fitch, S&P and Moody’s, respectively.
This is the second time in recent months that AT&T taps Taiwan’s debt markets. Last October, it issued a 30-year 4.7% US$$1.3bn bond, which was later listed on Taiwan’s stock exchange.
The Texas-based carrier secured two loan credit agreements last week worth a total US$11.2bn with Mizuho as administrative agent.
The facilities were announced shortly before AT&T said it would further expand in Mexico with the US$1.87bn acquisition of Nextel, the local unit of bankrupt US telecoms group NII Holdings.
The telco plans to merge number four carrier Nextel with the country’s third-largest player, Iusacell, which it recently bought from Grupo Salinas in a US$2.5bn deal.
It is also awaiting regulatory approval for the takeover of pan-American DTH operator DirecTV, which holds a 41.3% stake in Sky Mexico.
Additionally, AT&T took part in the US AWS-3 spectrum auction, which kicked off last November and closed yesterday after reaching a record US$44.9bn in provisional bids.
Although the FCC regulator has yet to unveil the winning bidders, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin believes that the telecoms giant spent at least US$20bn in the tender.
“We originally thought AT&T and Verizon would each pay somewhere in the US$15-20bn range, but after AT&T raised US$11bn from Mizuho Bank last week (and is currently raising more debt in Taiwan), we now think AT&T will come in at or above the high end of the range and Verizon will come in towards the lower end,” he said in a note.
AT&T total debt stood at US$82.1bn as of 31 December 2014.
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