Banks are organising a debt financing package of about €2.65bn (US$3.62bn) to fund US merchant bank Dering Capital’s acquisition of the French assets of tower group TeleDiffusion de France (TDF).
BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs…
Banks are organising a debt financing package of about €2.65bn (US$3.62bn) to fund US merchant bank Dering Capital’s acquisition of the French assets of tower group TeleDiffusion de France (TDF).
BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs are leading the financing, a banking source confirmed to SatelliteFinance.
The package will include euro-denominated leveraged loans and senior secured and unsecured bonds. Syndication is set to take place in the coming weeks.
In January 2014, it emerged that Dering, founded by former Blackstone executive Ben Jenkis, was the sole remaining bidder in the race to buy TDF’s French assets. Rival suitors Canadian pension funds CPPIB and PSP Investments and telecoms towerco American Tower dropped out earlier, reportedly because TDF’s shareholders – TPG, Axa Private Equity, FSI and Charterhouse – would not budge on the €4bn (US$5.3bn) asking price.
Last September, it was reported that Dering had submitted a €3.8bn (US$5bn) non-bidding offer for the assets.
TDF’s €4bn valuation is based on a multiple of 10.5-11.5 times the French assets’ FY2012 EBITDA of €380m.
TDF, which provides radio and TV transmission services using its satellite, internet and tower operations, is present in France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Estonia and Monaco.
On its website, Dering describes itself as a merchant bank which partners with sovereign wealth funds, pension systems, foundations, endowments and family offices for its investments.
