Windstream seeking $1 billion in loans, bonds to refinance debt

Windstream Corp., the telecommunications-services provider with $9 billion of debt, is seeking $1 billion in loans and bonds to help refinance near-term obligations and fund a tender offer.

The company intends to sell $700 million of notes due in 2023 to fund a $650 million tender offer for its 8.875 percent debt maturing in 2017, Little Rock-based Windstream said Tuesday in a statement.

It’s also seeking to obtain $300 million in term loans to refinance obligations due in July, according to a separate release. That loan, combined with $1.25 billion available in its revolving credit facility, will allow the firm to refinance its $1.1 billion of obligations due this year, Windstream said.

The company last sold bonds in February with a $500 million offering of 7.5 percent debt due in June 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Those notes traded Jan. 4 at 107.9 cents on the dollar to yield 6.36 percent with a 424 basis-point spread over similar-maturity Treasuries, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Windstream is rated Ba2 by Moody’s Investors Service and BB- by Standard & Poor’s.

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