Windstream tenders, seeks consents for 8 7/8% notes issued by Paetec

By Susanna Moon

Chicago, Jan. 8 - Windstream Corp. said it began a tender offer and consent solicitation for the outstanding $650 million principal amount of 8 7/8% senior secured notes due 2017 issued by Paetec Holding Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

The company also is soliciting consents to amend the notes to eliminate or modify restrictive covenants and to release all of the collateral securing obligations under the notes.

Pricing for the offer will be set at 2 p.m. ET on Jan. 22 using the bid-side yield on the 0.375% U.S. Treasury note due June 30, 2013 plus a fixed spread of 50 basis points, according to a company press release.

The total purchase price for each $1,000 principal amount of notes will be equal to the present value on the payment date following the early tender deadline of $1,044.38 if the amount were to be paid on June 30, 2013, and all scheduled interest payments on the principal amount from the early payment date up to and including the earliest redemption date, discounted to present value based on the fixed spread minus accrued interest to but excluding the early payment date.

The total purchase price includes a consent payment equal to $30.00 per $1,000 principal amount of notes tendered by 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 22, the early tender deadline.

Holders who tender after the early tender deadline will receive the total payment less the consent payment.

The company also will pay accrued interest to but excluding the settlement date.

The tender offer will end at midnight ET on Feb. 5, with settlement occurring on Jan. 23 for notes tendered by the early deadline and "promptly" after the offer expires for the remaining tenders.

Completion of the tender offer is conditioned on a new debt offering with enough proceeds to help fund the offer as well as enough consents to amend the notes.

Tendered notes may be withdrawn by the early tender deadline.

Wells Fargo Securities, LLC (866 309-6316 or collect 704 410-4760) is the dealer manager and solicitation agent. The tender agent and information agent is D.F. King & Co., Inc. (800 290-6426 or banks and brokers 212 269-5550).

Windstream is a Little Rock, Ark.-based provider of advanced network communications, including cloud computing and managed services, to businesses.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.