BT Securities Corp., the brokerage arm of Bankers Trust New York Corp., expects to privately place $125 million of senior notes for Heartland Wireless Communications early this week, according to sources close to the deal.
The deal will come to market just after another wireless cable television concern, CAI Wireless Systems Inc., hit a roadblock. On Friday, CAI, along with partners Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex Corp., said it would suspend for a year a video venture announced in 1995.
Bell Atlantic and Nynex said they planned to look at satellite television as an alternative to wireless. CAI said it had retained the brokerage unit of J.P. Morgan & Co. and Smith Barney Inc. to help it "explore strategic alternatives."
One source close to the Heartland offering said CAI's announcement was unlikely to harm the deal. Heartland operates in rural areas, the source explained, while most problem-plagued wireless ventures operate in urban markets.
Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. and Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. are acting as co-managers for the eight-year Heartland issue, which is noncallable for four years. Pricing is expected to be available early this week.
The company will pay existing bondholders an estimated $6 million fee in exchange for their consent to proceed with the note issue.
Durant, Okla.-based Heartland will use the proceeds to expand its wireless cable television system.
- Omri Ben-Amos
u
In another media deal, Citicorp brought $350 million worth of high-yield bonds to market last week for Globo Comunicacoes e Participacoes, the largest media company in Latin America.
The assignment demonstrates how Citicorp is building its junk business around an international clientele, which is increasingly turning to the high-yield market to secure longer-term capital and to enter U.S. capital markets.
The offering, which was increased from $200 million, was divided into two parts: a $100 million issue with an eight-year maturity and a put and a call in the fifth year, and a 10-year, $250 million issue with a call option beginning in the fifth year and renewed every year thereafter.
Bank of Boston Corp. acted as joint book runner on the eight-year bond.
The 10-year portion is the longest unsecured bond underwritten for a private company in Latin America, and it was sold primarily to American institutional investors.
The eight-year bonds were sold to a combination of institutional and retail investors.
- Daniel Dunaief
