France’s Numericable-SFR has priced two term loans worth a total €1.68bn (US$1.85bn), its parent Altice announced.
France’s Numericable-SFR (EPA:
The loans, for US$1.34bn and €500m (US$551m), are due in January 2023 and have a margin of 400 bps over LIBOR/EURIBOR with a 0.75% LIBOR/EURIBOR floor.
Both loans were issued below par, at an original issue discount (OID) of 98.50.
The US$1.34bn term loan, the telecoms investor explained, has been swapped to €1.18bn with a margin of 4.15% and without a EURIBOR floor.
Altice said that the two loans would improve Numericable-SFR’s weighted average maturity from 5.9 to 6.1 years, as well as its weighted average cost of debt, from 4.9% to 4.8%.
The converged operator will direct the proceeds from the loans towards its announced €2.5bn (US$2.76bn) shareholder dividend, Altice said. To this end, the company will draw from its existing RCF and use cash on its balance sheet.
Altice furthermore explained that it would use its share of the Numericable dividend to repay the vendor note relating to its May 2015 purchase of an additional 10% stake in Numericable-SFR from Vivendi.
Altice Luxembourg’s weighted average maturity and weighted average cost of debt for consolidated remain at 6.4 years and 5.7% respectively, the company said.
Earlier this month, Altice announced a share placement to help finance its acquisition of Cablevision and clarified its capital structure.