Telemar Norte Leste, the holding company of Brazilian telco Oi, will be issuing US$750m in dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes maturing in 2020 after September 6.
According to Bloomberg, citing an anonymous source, Telemar has hired Bank of…
Telemar Norte Leste, the holding company of Brazilian telco Oi, will be issuing US$750m in dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes maturing in 2020 after September 6.
According to Bloomberg, citing an anonymous source, Telemar has hired Bank of America, BNP Paribas, BTG Pactual and Itau Unibanco to sell the debt.
The price of the notes has not been set and further details will be released next week.
Fitch Ratings has assigned a BBB- rating with a positive outlook to the notes and sees Oi in a strong position after the acquisition of Brasil Telecom in 2008, exhibiting solid cash-flow generation and expects the company will meet its net debt to EBITDA target of 1.7x.
Oi controls more than 20% of the Brazilian telecommunications market.
At the end of July Oi gained a new partner when Portugal Telecom invested US$4.76bn in return for a 22.38% stake in the firm after a protracted tussle with Telefónica of Spain over Vivo.
The proceeds from this issue are expected to be used for refinancing needs, improving the debt maturity profile and general corporate uses. In addition, Telemar may offer a voluntary exchange of its 2019 senior notes for the new 2020 notes.
Earlier this week, Eduardo Falco, Oi’s CEO and Chairman lobbied Anatel, Brazil’s telecoms regulator, to speed up the process of integrating PT’s US$4.76bn into the company. However, before this happens Anatel have to authorise the sale of 50% of Vivo to Telefónica.
