WALL Street banks led by JP Morgan have increased the size of a loan package for Warner Bros Discovery to over $10 billion as the media company seeks to refinance debt ahead of its planned merger with Paramount Skydance, according to terms seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The US dollar term loan was increased to $9 billion from $5 billion, while a 1-billion-euro ($1.16-billion) loan remained unchanged, the terms showed. JP Morgan, Barclays, BNP, Deutsche Bank, NatWest, RBC, UBS, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs are the bookrunners on the transaction, according to the terms. The financing comes as Paramount moves ahead with its planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal valued at about $110 billion that was signed recently after Netflix declined to raise its offer. The merger would combine Paramount assets, including CBS, MTV, Comedy Central and BET with Warner Bros Discovery properties such as CNN, TNT and Food Network. JP Morgan has already earned $189 million in financing and other fees tied to Warner Bros-related transactions, according to a Reuters report in January.
