TEGNA is refinancing a portion of its senior notes, which is the most secure debt for investors, to take advantage of lower interest rates.
The broadcaster, which owns 62 stations in 51 markets, said Tuesday (Jan. 7) that it is offering $1 billion of senior notes to qualified institutional investors. The notes are due 2028 and the proceeds will be used to redeem some of its outstanding senior notes and repay debt under its revolving credit agreement, another form of senior debt.
As of the third quarter of 2019 TEGNA had $4.2 billion in debt.
Senior debt has first dibs on cash flow and is collateralized by company assets and so more secure than other debt.
It was not immediately clear which particular bonds it was retiring, which will be released in a memorandum later today.
TEGNA has been on a bit of a buying spree, paying over $500 million for four Dispatch TV stations in June 2019 and over $700 million for 11 Nexstar stations in September ($740 million) as part of that broadcaster's purchase of Tribune stations.
