(Bloomberg) -- Tegna Inc., a television broadcaster, is planning on borrowing around $6.8 billion in the junk bond and leveraged loan markets to help fund its buyout by Standard General LP, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
Royal Bank of Canada will be leading the debt sale process. Other banks involved in the syndication include Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Bank of America Corp., according to the people, asking not to be named discussing a private transaction.
In addition to that borrowing, the transaction includes $1.4 billion of preferred equity funding, according to the people. That is split between a $925 million series A, in which Apollo Global Management Inc is participating, and a $450 million series B. The exact breakdown between bonds and loans in the financing package hasn't yet been determined, the people said.
Borrowing costs in most U.S. credit markets have jumped this year, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens to push inflation even higher and central banks get ready to lift rates. Arranger banks have been adjusting the mix of junk bonds and leveraged loans in financing packages depending on the relative demand of each investor base.
Representatives for RBC, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Standard General, Tegna, and Apollo declined to comment.
Soo Kim's Standard General is buying publicly traded Tegna in a deal valued around $8.6 billion, including the assumption of debt. The transaction finally came together in late February and is expected to close in the second half of 2022. Standard General and Apollo had offered about $22 a share for Tegna in September, and then had to bump up the offer multiple times to ultimately $24 a share, Bloomberg News reported.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
