NEW YORK-Strong investor demand for a debt offering by Arch Communications Group Inc. prompted the company to raise the amount issued to $275 million when it went to market March 6.
Arch originally contemplated a $200 million issue of senior discount notes due 2008. The maturity date of the debt offering remains the same. The notes, which pay an interest rate of 10.875 percent, will trade on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol “ARD,” according to an announcement by the company.
Proceeds of the sale are intended to help finance Arch’s acquisition of Westlink Paging Inc. of San Diego. The total Westlink purchase price is $340 million, said Bob Nabholz, a director at Prudential Securities Inc., lead manager of the bond offering.
“Arch anticipates financing the balance of the Westlink purchase price with borrowings under a pending amendment to an existing [$450 million] bank credit facility,” the company said in a prepared statement.
Arch Communications Group is a holding company based in Westborough, Mass. It had two million pagers in service at the end of 1995. The Westlink acquisition will add more than 500,000 pagers in service to the Arch Group’s repertoire, probably positioning Arch as third largest paging company in the United States, the company said.
