Charter Closes on $3.5B Loans

Charter Communications said Friday it has closed on $3.5 billion in terms loans, proceeds of which will be used to finance its purchase of cable subscribers from Time Warner Cable, itself an offshoot of Comcast’s pending merger with TWC.

In a statement, Charter said the loans will be used to finance Charter’s acquisition, from Comcast, of cable systems serving approximately 1.5 million Time Warner Cable video customers. Those sales are part of larger agreements the parties reached in April that will double Charter’s footprint through a series of sales, swaps and a 33% stake in spin-off GreatLand Connections.

 Charter had previously announced that it had entered into commitments for up to $8.4 billion of loans. The $3.5 billion is a portion of that commitment, with the remaining commitment continuing.

Goldman Sachs Bank USA, BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. served as the Joint Lead Book Runners and Joint Lead Arrangers for the new facilities.