NEW YORK-Sprint Spectrum L.P. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Sprint Spectrum Finance Corp., last week delayed and apparently downsized a planned issuance of $650 million in 10-year notes. By Aug. 15, the issue reportedly had been reduced in overall size to approximately $520 million.
Originally planned for sale Aug. 14, the deal was postponed until at least Aug. 16. At press time, neither officials of Sprint Spectrum nor the capital markets desk at Lehman Brothers Inc., New York, lead underwriter, were available to comment.
Last week was marked by renewed turmoil in the debt markets due to uncertainty about prospects for inflation. Additionally, the proposed Sprint Spectrum offering has been preceded by a large number of other public debt issues sold by other companies in the brand new personal communications services sector.
The note issue is to be divided into two parts, or tranches. The senior discount note tranche, originally envisioned as totaling $500 million, reportedly was reduced to $270 million; the senior note tranche, originally planned at $150 million, was increased to $250 million.
Proceeds of the offering are intended partly for use in building out the partnership’s nationwide personal communications services network. Among other things, the capital raised also may be used to finance bids in the Federal Communications Commission’s D-, E- and F-block auctions if Sprint Spectrum elects to participate, according to the preliminary prospectus for the deal.
The notes have received speculative-grade ratings of B2 from Moody’s Investors Service Inc. and B+ from Standard & Poor’s Corp., both in New York.
