Altice sets talk, re-sets some tranche sizes on $4.57 billion equivalent five-part bond offering

By Paul Deckelman

New York, Jan. 29 – Altice International set price talk on its $4.57 billion equivalent five-tranche dollar- and euro-denominated bond offering, syndicate sources said Thursday.

The sources also said that the company had done some tweaking on the size of at least two of the tranches, while leaving the others as originally announced.

That offering consists of three dollar-denominated tranches and two euro-denominated pieces, issued by three separate subsidiaries.

Order books were closed on the euro-denominated tranches on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET and on the dollar-denominated tranches at 1 p.m. ET, with pricing on all tranches expected at the opening of business in New York on Friday.

Altice SA will bring $1.48 billion – downsized from $1,775,000,000 – of 10-year senior notes (B3/B), with talk set in the 7¾% area.

The issuer is also doing €750 million of such notes – upsized from €500 million – with talk set in the 6 3/8% area.

That price talk had tightened from earlier whispers in the market suggesting that the dollar tranche’s yield would likely be somewhere in the mid-8% region, with the euro piece seen pricing 125 basis points inside the dollar tranche, or somewhere in the low-7% vicinity.

Altice Finco SA will bring $385 million of 10-year notes (B3/B-), also talked in the 7¾% area, versus earlier whispers of a yield in the mid-to-high 8% range.

All three of the 10-year note tranches will carry five years of call protection.

Altice Financing SA will bring $2.06 billion of eight-year senior secured notes (B1/BB-), with talk set in the 6¾% area, versus earlier whispers pegging the bonds in the low-to-mid 7% neighborhood.

The issuer is also doing €500 million of such notes, with talk set in the 5 3/8% area; whispers had put that yield in by 125 bps from the dollar tranche, or around the low-6% space.

Both of those tranches will carry three years of call protection.

The Rule 144A and Regulation S deal is being brought to market via a hefty roster of joint bookrunners, including Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Credit Agricole CIB, ING, Banka IMI, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., Nomura Securities International, RBC Capital Markets Corp., SG CIB and UniCredit Group.

Goldman Sachs is acting as the left lead bookrunner for the two Altice Financing SA tranches and the Altice Finco SA tranche, while JPMorgan will be the left lead on the two Altice SA tranches.

The regularly scheduled forward calendar offering has been marketed to potential investors via a roadshow that began last Friday and then moved on to New York on Monday and Tuesday, to Boston on Wednesday and to the West Coast of the United States on Thursday.

Altice, a Luxembourg-based telecommunications and cable company, is also doing a €825 million equivalent seven-year first-lien term loan B financing, split into $500 million and €400 million tranches.

It set revised price talk on the dollar portion at 425 bps to 450 bps over Libor, versus earlier talk of 500 bps to 525 bps, with the euro tranche now also talked at 425 bps to 450 bps versus 475 bps to 500 bps earlier.

Both loan tranches have a 1% Libor floor and have an OID of 99 and 99.5, respectively.

The proceeds from the bond and bank financing will be used to back the acquisition of Portugal Telecom assets by Altice from Brazil’s Grupo OI.

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