Emmis Communications last week made an offer to its bankers to buy back some of its debt at a discounted price. The banks didn’t tender all that Emmis had hoped for, but it did make a dent in its total debt.
Emmis said that on April 14th it commenced a Dutch auction tender to purchase term loans of Emmis Operating Company under its term loan with a group of lenders including Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, as syndication agent, General Electric Capital Corporation, Coöperatieve Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank B.A., “Rabobank Nederland”, New York Branch, and SunTrust Bank, as co-documentation agents, and Banc of America Securities LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. as joint lead arrangers and joint book managers.
Emmis, offered up to $45 million to purchase the term loans at a discount of 45%-55% of the face amount of the loans. Pursuant to the tender, the company reports that it purchased $34.4 million in face amount of its outstanding term loans for $18.9 million on April 17, 2009. The $34.4 million in purchased term loans was simultaneously cancelled and forgiven.
