By Ben Edwards
French cable operator Numericable Group SA will on Wednesday
raise almost EUR8 billion ($11 billion) in the biggest junk-bond
sale on record.
Bankers say the company will pay investors yields ranging from
4.875% to 6.25% for the various chunks of bonds on offer, which are
split between euros and dollars. That is a slightly lower price tag
for the borrower than expected, with initial talk suggesting yields
ranging from about 5% to a little more than 6.5%.
At the same time, Numericable's parent company Altice SA will
raise an equivalent of EUR4.15 billion from an eight-year
dual-currency bond, yielding 7.25% in euros and 7.75% in
dollars.
That takes the combined financing package, which includes EUR1.9
billion of Numericable loans, to almost EUR14 billion. The cash is
being used to help fund Altice's EUR17 billion acquisition of
Vivendi SA's telecoms business SFR.
The Numericable bond is expected to be rated Ba3 by Moody's
Investors Service, three notches below investment grade. The Altice
bond is expected to be rated B by Standard & Poor's Corp., five
levels into junk territory.
Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase
are coordinating the bond sales.
Write to Ben Edwards at ben.edwards@wsj.com
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