VimpelCom’s Italian unit Wind Telecomunicazioni has launched a €4.065bn (US$5.5bn)-equivalent offering of senior secured notes to refinance existing debt.
The offering consists of €500m of euro-denominated floating-rate notes and €3.565bn of…
VimpelCom’s Italian unit Wind Telecomunicazioni has launched a €4.065bn (US$5.5bn)-equivalent offering of senior secured notes to refinance existing debt.
The offering consists of €500m of euro-denominated floating-rate notes and €3.565bn of euro and US dollar-denominated fixed-rate notes, both due 2020, Wind said in a statement.
Subsidiary Wind Acquisition Finance (WAF) will use the proceeds to refinance existing senior secured notes due 2018 and enable Wind to refinance the non-extended part of its senior credit facilities.
“The refinancing aims to reduce interest costs, extend the maturity profile of the Wind group’s debt and have a sustainable and manageable capital structure for WAF and Wind.”
Amsterdam-based VimpelCom announced a new, multi-step refinancing plan for the indebted Italian unit in March and, the following month, issued a €3.78bn bond due 2021, also to refinance existing debt. VimpelCom has also looked at selling Wind’s towers, reportedly valued at about €500m (US$688m) to help cut debt.
Wind reported revenues of €1.144bn for Q1 2014, EBITDA of €430m and net debt of €9.163bn.
Wind is Italy’s third-largest mobile operator after incumbent Telecom Italia and Vodafone and its leading alternative fixed-line operator. VimpelCom and Hutchison Whampoa are reportedly back in talks about merging their Italian units. Hutchison’s 3 Italia is the nation’s smallest mobile operator.
