Cumulus Media is getting its ducks in a row to close the $2.5 billion acquisition of Citadel Broadcasting. To fund part of the cash portion Cumulus is selling $610 million worth of bonds in a private placement on Wall Street.
Cumulus Media has a lot of debt which needs to be refinanced in connection with its pending acquisitions of Cumulus Media Partners (a related privately owned radio group) and Citadel Broadcasting.
Net proceeds from the new offering of senior notes due 2019 will be used to Notes to repay in full all outstanding amounts under the term loan facility under Cumulus Media’s existing senior secured credit facilities and to pay fees and expenses related to the offering.
That’s just one piece of the massive $4 billion in wheeling and dealing by Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey. The company is also arranging a term loan of slightly over $2 billion and bringing in nearly $400 million from new equity investments.
RBR-TVBR observation: From what we’ve seen of Wall Street’s embrace of new bond issues by broadcasters and other media companies in recent months, Lew Dickey should have no problem raising $610 million. We’re rather surprised he’s not going after more. But then, the senior lenders stepped right up to issue a new term loan and revolver totaling over $2.1 billion, so he seems to have no shortage of people willing to lend money to the expanded Cumulus Media.
