LIN TV said to sell $260M loan at 99 cents on dollar

By Krista Giovacco
Bloomberg News

NEW YORK - LIN TV Corp., the owner and operator of network-affiliated television stations, including WPRI-TV CBS 12, cut the discount on a $260 million term loan that will refinance bonds, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

LIN will sell the seven-year debt at 99 cents on the dollar, compared with 98.5 cents initially proposed, said the person who declined to be identified because the terms are private.

The Providence-based media company will pay 3.75 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate and the lending benchmark will have a 1.25 percent floor, the person said. LIN had been offering to pay interest of as much as four percentage points more than Libor.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is arranging the debt and is seeking commitments from lenders by 3 p.m. today in New York.

Lenders to the term loan, which will refinance the company’s 6.5 percent notes due in 2013, will receive 101 soft- call protection for one year, meaning that LIN would have to pay a one cent premium to reprice the debt in its first year, the person said.