Central European Media Enterprises (CME) has completed a previously announced refinancing transaction entered into on February 19 this year.
The transaction included a new €469 million senior unsecured term credit facility agreement, guaranteed by Time Warner; extending the maturity date of an existing €251 million loan term by one year to November 2018; and extending the maturity date of CME’s existing $115 million revolving credit facility from 2017 to 2021.
Following the transaction, all senior debt currently outstanding is denominated in euros; the all-in rate applicable to the new €469 million term loan and associated guarantee by Time Warner ranges from 10.5% to 7.0%; and the cost of the revolving credit facility, which is currently undrawn, ranges from 10.0% to 7.0%, depending on the net leverage ratio of CME.
In a joint statement, Michael Del Nin and Christoph Mainusch, co-CEOs, said: “The cost on approximately half of our debt is immediately reduced by 450 basis points as a result of this transaction, with the potential to automatically improve on that as our net leverage ratio declines further. The savings from the lower cost of servicing our debt, together with continued improvement in our operations and the expected proceeds from warrant exercises in the future, put us on a clear path to delever the company.”