Cable One asked a federal judge to retract a temporary restraining order, arguing it would threaten to derail a roughly $1.3 billion financing deal crucial to its mandatory acquisition of the remaining stake in Mega Broadband Investments.
The Phoenix-based broadband operator filed court papers Tuesday seeking to overturn the order granted Friday after its lender, CoBank, sued to halt the deal claiming Cable One is insolvent and overpaying for MBI. CoBank alleged that Cable One's planned financing, backed by private-equity firm GTCR, would hinder its ability to repay its creditors.
Cable One is contractually obligated to purchase the remaining 55% stake in Mega Broadband that it doesn't own after GTCR exercised its right to sell in January. That deal, a roughly $480 million transaction, was slated to be completed Friday.
To fund the deal and pay down some of its $2.45 billion in debt, Cable One put together a $1.3 billion financing package with GTCR and some existing and new Cable One lenders. The proposed deal includes extending and reducing Cable One's revolving credit facility and fully paying down its B-4 term loan.
Cable One said in Tuesday court papers that it offered to involve CoBank, which holds about $1.2 billion of Cable One's debt, in this financing. However, CoBank pursued an alternative transaction that also would have settled Cable One's requirement to buy the MBI stake.
CoBank was initially on board with Cable One's plan to raise new financing, signing off on Cable One's attempts to issue bonds to fund the MBI acquisition. Those transactions didn't come to fruition.
Starting in August, CoBank and Cable One began extensive negotiations, according to Cable One's Chief Financial Officer Todd M. Koetje. Cable One's financial adviser, Centerview Partners, directly worked with CoBank's adviser, Houlihan Lokey, on several occasions, Koetje said.
Cable One shared the GTCR proposal with CoBank in late August, but CoBank allegedly declined to support it and instead offered two alternatives. Cable One said CoBank's proposals would have primed, or subordinated, some existing lenders who had already committed to the latest financing proposal.
After the proposal was rebuffed, CoBank allegedly attempted to rally other creditors against the GTCR-arranged deal.
On Thursday, the day before the financing was scheduled to close, CoBank purchased roughly $90 million of Cable One's revolving loans on the secondary market before filing its insolvency lawsuit on Friday.
Cable One warned in court papers that the restraining order risks collapsing interlocking commitments from roughly 20 private-credit and institutional lenders, leaving the company with no viable alternative to address its looming debt maturities.
CoBank declined to comment on Tuesday.
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