TDC keeps market guessing

Clarity finally emerged last week on the size, if not the structure, of the debt supporting the buyout of Danish Telecommunications group TDC as sponsor-backed vehicle Nordic Telephone Company Holdings announced its €2.031m 10-year senior and floating rate notes that take out the €2.275bn bridge in connection with its buyout of Danish Telecoms incumbent TDC.

Lead arrangers are Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Although the senior piece has a fairly standard non-call five structure, call protection on the floaters is thin at non-call one, then being callable at 102, 101 and par. This may explain why the leads have been slow to define the exact split between the fixed and floating portions of the deal.

The dollar/euro split will also be defined according to demand. However, initial reaction to the deal appears to be positive, helped by the fact that many investors already have much of the credit work in place as they are in the bridge facility.

The roadshow process is around the half-way mark at present, with dates in London and New York last week being complemented this week with further dates in the US, the Scottish capital Edinburgh, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Price talk is due mid-week, although investors are working on a pro forma of 675bp on the floaters and 8.75% on the senior notes.