Everyone knows iHeartMedia is strapped with over $20 Billion in debt and radio revenue is not growing fast enough to make any real dent in the number. Bloomberg is reporting that the company is planning to sell securities in one of its units to retire $1.4 billion of bonds the company owes. Bloomberg claims iHeart would offer existing debtholders the option to exchange into new obligations from a subsidiary called Broader Media LLC and creditors would receive higher-ranked claims on some of IHeart’s assets than they have now. The company did not comment to Bloomberg on the report.
Bloomberg says the deal being discussed would take care of borrowings coming due before 2019, when $8.3 billion in senior debt comes due. The plan would knock down $192.9 million of 5.5 percent unsecured notes due December 2016. Bloomberg says the proposal is also intended to retire the company’s $190 million revolving loan due December 2017, the $850 million of 10 percent unsecured notes due January 2018 and the $175 million of 6.875 percent unsecured notes due June 2018.
Clear Channel as bought by Bain and Thomas H. Lee in 2008 in a leveraged buyout for $24 billion.
