TV station giant and media company Sinclair Inc. on Tuesday unveiled deals with select creditors to boost its liquidity, strengthening its balance sheet for the longer-term.
Sinclair Television Group and certain affiliated entities have entered into a “transaction support agreement” with certain secured creditors “on the principal terms of new money financings and a debt recapitalization to strengthen the company’s balance sheet and better position it for long-term growth,” the company said.
The agreement covers lenders holding about 80 percent of the firm’s outstanding loans and approximately 75 percent of its holders of secured notes. It includes the establishment of a $650 million revolving credit facility and refinancing options for various term loans.
The arrangements “demonstrate the strong support of our creditors in positioning the company for long-term success by enhancing its financial liquidity and flexibility,” said Sinclair president and CEO Chris Ripley. “The refinancings are expected to push our closest meaningful maturity to December 2029 and extend all of our maturities to a weighted average of 6.6 years, while materially reducing our first lien net leverage and improving our financial optionality, allowing us to continue to be opportunistic in the marketplace to deleverage over time while driving enhanced returns for all of the company’s stakeholders.”
The proposed transactions must still be finalized and “are conditioned on the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions,” as well as the consent from lenders, Sinclair said.
While financial flexibility helps with pursuing potential mergers or acquisitions, the company didn’t specifically mention M&A on Tuesday. However, the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump has made deregulation a top priority, and companies that own local TV stations, including Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray, E.W. Scripps and Tegna, are seen as likely to get new deal opportunities amid a broader expectation for a possible media M&A frenzy.
“The incoming Trump administration and Trump pick Brendan Carr heading the FCC is likely to usher in deregulation and consolidation for TV broadcast,” Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall predicted in a recent report. “We think the new FCC will pursue much-needed broadcast deregulation, which could include eliminating the ownership cap.”