Swedish cableco Com Hem (STO:COMH) has agreed a SKr1bn (US$121m) credit facility due 2019 with DNB to improve its debt profile, extending its existing pact with the bank.
Swedish cableco Com Hem (STO:COMH) has agreed a SKr1bn (US$121m) credit facility due 2019 with DNB to improve its debt profile, extending its existing pact with the bank.
The proceeds, alongside SKr500m (US$61m) of short term loans secured with Nordea and Danske Bank and other existing unutilised facilities, will be used to repay the last €187m (US$212m) of its high-yield euro notes.
Com Hem has already paid off €100m (US$113m) of the eight-year euro notes, which were issued in 2011 and carry a fixed coupon of 10.75%.
Once the transaction is completed, Com Hem says it will pay SKr100m (US$12m) less in annual interest and its average interest rate will fall from 4.5% to 3.5%. Com Hem will then have outstanding bonds and loans of SKr10.4bn.
Private equity firm BC Partners listed Com Hem in mid-2014, diluting its ownership to 47.7%. The cable operator has subsequently been considered a potential target that could attract TDC.
In 2014, TDC’s then CEO Carsten Dilling led the acquisition of Norwegian cableco Get, and reportedly hoped to follow that with a bid for Com Hem. That strategy proved divisive and was said to be a factor in Dilling’s departure from the Danish incumbent last month.