EchoStar repays term loan, revolver, Coface facility after Hughes deal

By Susanna Moon

Chicago, June 9 - EchoStar Corp. repaid its first-lien term loan facility, revolving credit agreement and its Coface covered export credit facility Wednesday related to the merger with Hughes Communications, Inc., according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company used cash on hand to repay the first-lien credit agreement, and proceeds from note offerings to repay the revolver and Coface facility.

Bear Stearns Corporate Lending Inc. was the initial lender for the first-lien debt, and Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. was lead arranger and bookrunning manager. BSCL was administrative agent.

For the revolver, JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA was administrative agent, Barclays Capital was syndication agent, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC was the bookrunner, and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Barclays Capital were joint lead arrangers.

And, for the Coface facility, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale were the original lenders, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale were mandated lead arrangers, BNP Paribas was facility agent, documentation agent and security agent, and Societe Generale was structuring bank.

As previously reported, Hughes expected to repay most of its debt, including the 9½% notes. The only debt expected to remain outstanding was the $115 million loan facility guaranteed by Coface, assuming lender consents were obtained.

EchoStar completed an upsized $2 billion issuance of notes on May 17 in two parts to fund the purchase of Hughes Communications. The deal included an upsized $1.1 billion tranche of eight-year 6½% senior secured notes and an upsized $900 million tranche of 10-year 7 5/8% senior unsecured notes priced at par.

On Feb. 14 Echostar received a commitment for $1.8 billion of bridge loans to help fund its acquisition of Hughes Communications with Deutsche Bank leading the financing.

The commitment comprised a $1 billion senior secured bridge loan and an $800 million senior unsecured bridge loan.

The deal was valued at $2 billion in February, including the refinancing of debt.

EchoStar is an Englewood, Colo.-based provider of equipment sales, digital broadcast operations and satellite services. Hughes is a Germantown, Md.-based provider of broadband satellite networks and services.

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