Paramount Skydance Restructures Debt for Warner Bros. Discovery Deal
Paramount Skydance has accomplished a sequence of transactions to restructure the debt financing for its proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
In an SEC submitting, Paramount mentioned it had reached a deal to syndicate its beforehand disclosed debt funding for the WBD deal and “has entered into permanent financing transactions that will support the consummation of the merger and make up a portion of the post-closing capital structure of the combined business.”
The debt offers will scale back Paramount’s mixture long-term debt commitments from $54 billion to $49 billion. In addition, Paramount’s beforehand disclosed commitments for a $3.50 billion revolving credit score facility have been diminished to zero. The firm additionally amended its present senior unsecured revolving credit score facility to extend dedicated liquidity from $3.5 billion to $5 billion upfront of the closing of the merger.
Paramount’s proposed WBD deal is pending regulatory clearance in addition to approval by Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders (set to go to a vote at a special meeting on April 23).
In a press release, Andy Gordon, Paramount’s chief technique officer and COO, known as the debt offers “another important milestone towards out completion of our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.”
“This progress follows closely on the heels of our equity syndication, which diversifies our shareholder base and yields potential for strategic and commercial opportunities,” Gordon mentioned.
That’s a reference to Paramount’s announcement that it has introduced on the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, in addition to LionTree Investment Fund, as fairness buyers in reference to the WBD takeover bid. In mixture, the three Middle Eastern funds are investing close to $24 billionwith Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund taking a roughly $10 billion stake.
Gordon continued, “The strong demand for both our equity and debt offerings underscores confidence in our vision and ability to deliver greater value by bringing together these two storied companies — creating a leading media and entertainment company that strengthens competition, better serves the creative community and delivers even more compelling stories to audiences.”
Through the offers, Paramount syndicated the bridge mortgage commitments to scale back Citi, BofA and Apollo’s publicity and unfold the whole quantity throughout 18 banks. In reference to that, the corporate entered into everlasting financing that may sit within the mixed Paramount-WBD’s capital construction; that features a $5 billion Term Loan A and a $5 billion new revolver.
Per the submitting, on April 7, Paramount entered right into a credit score settlement with Citibank as administrative agent and collateral agent; BofA Securities, Citibank, Apollo Global Funding, Deutsche Bank Securities and Wells Fargo Securities as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners; Bank of America as syndication agent; Apollo Global Funding, Deutsche Bank New York Branch and Wells Fargo Bank as documentation brokers; and “the lenders party thereto.”
Also within the 8-Ok submitting with the SEC, Paramount disclosed that Jeff Shell, who stepped down as president and a board member on April 8is eligible to obtain at least $5 million in severity with his departure.
