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Atlantic Tele-Net gets loan for Alltel deal
26 January 2010
Atlantic Tele-Network in the US has negotiated a $300 million loan to help it buy former Alltel operations from Verizon Wireless
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[Atlantic Tele-Network]
[Alltel]
[Verizon Wireless]
[ATN]
[ATNI]
[US]
[Caribbean]
Comment: ATN announced in June 2009 that it would spend $200 million to buy some former Alltel businesses — licences and network assets — from Verizon Wireless, following a regulatory ruling. Verizon Wireless needed to offload some parts of Alltel in order to achieve approval for its $28 billion purchase of Alltel at the beginning of 2009.
Caribbean and rural US operator Atlantic Tele-Network has secured a $300 million revolving credit loan. The company has added a new $150 million term loan to fund the acquisition of former Alltel assets from Verizon Wireless.
The updated loan includes a $73.9 million term loan, which is the amount of the term loan outstanding under the company’s previous credit facility and a $75 million revolving loan, available under its previous credit facility.
The term loans will mature on September 30 2014, while the revolving loan will mature on September 10 2014. CoBank ACB, a rural US cooperative bank, was the administrative agent and lead arranger in the transaction.
The company is expecting to borrow the entire amount of the new $150 million term loan in connection with the proposed acquisition of the former Alltel assets, which the company is expecting to complete during the first quarter of 2010.
Atlantic Tele-Network operates advanced wireless, wireline and both terrestrial and submarine fibre optic networks in North America and the Caribbean, including GT&T in Guyana and BDC in Bermuda. GTB