04-11-2010

TVN to Issue 250 Million EUR of Bonds

By Katarzyna Grynienko

    The Management Board of TVN, the biggest Polish private broadcaster, announced it will issue high yield bonds expected to bring 250 million EUR into the company, part of which will be used to refinance TVN's current debt.

    The TVN (www.tvn.pl) bonds will be due in 5-15 years with a maximum return of 10%, depending on the maturity date. The bonds will be unsecured (high yield), but guaranteed by entities from the TVN capital group (www.investor.tvn.pl): TVN, Grupa Onet.pl., Grupa Onet Holding B.V., ITI Neovision and DTH Poland Holding. The final issue price will be established with the input of potential private and institutional investors who have already expressed interest in the bonds. The income will be used to refinance the company's 500 million PLN debt contracted in 2008. TVN is also securing a 200 PLN line of credit issued by PEKAO SA bank, available to the station until 2011.

    The announcement was made a day after TVN published weak viewership results for October. As the most successful private broadcaster TVN suffered a hard hit, when it narrowed its lead over main rival television Polsat (www.polsat.pl) to just 2.2 % (compared to a 4.4% lead in October 2009). The Polish market noted a significant drop in the audience for big commercial stations due to a growing number of thematic channels available through cable television.