Canada’s Shaw Communications has priced a C$300m (US$216.84m) offering of senior notes due 2021, potentially to help fund its C$1.6bn (US$1.12bn) acquisition of Wind Mobile. Shaw has already agreed to sell its broadcasting unit to help finance the purchase, expected to close in the third quarter.
Canada’s Shaw Communications (TSX:SJR.B) has priced a C$300m (US$216.84m) offering of senior notes due 2021, potentially to help fund its C$1.6bn (US$1.12bn) acquisition of Wind Mobile.
The effective yield of the 3.15% notes, if held to maturity, is 3.174%, the Calgary-based telco said in a statement.
Proceeds will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes, which may include funding payment of a portion of the Wind Mobile purchase that was announced last December.
The notes will be made available in Canada under Shaw’s shelf prospectus. TD Securities is the sole bookrunner for the transaction.
If some notes do not sell, the size of the offering will be reduced at closing, which is expected to take place on 19 February.
In mid-January, Shaw agreed to sell its broadcasting unit Shaw Media to Corus Entertainment for C$2.65bn (US$1.86bn) to help fund the Wind Mobile deal. Both the Shaw Media and Wind Mobile deals are expected to close in Q3, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
The Wind purchase enables Shaw, which has a fibre network serving some 3.2 million customers and a satellite TV business serving 900,000 customers, to become a quad-play provider, adding wireless to its DTH, fibre, cable and WiFi offerings.
Wind is the country’s fourth largest mobile network operator with about 940,000 subscribers in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, and 50 MHz of spectrum in each of these three regions.
At the time of writing, Shaw’s shares were up 3.17% on the Toronto exchange to C$23.41 (US$16.92) each.
