Consolidated Communications to receive up to $425M investment

Consolidated Communications announced that it has entered into an agreement with an affiliate of Searchlight, in connection with which affiliates of Searchlight have committed to invest up to an aggregate of $425M in the company. The investment has been unanimously approved by the Consolidated board. In connection with the investment from Searchlight, Consolidated will reduce net debt by $325M and launch a refinancing of substantially all of its remaining $2B of outstanding debt to extend debt maturities and enhance liquidity through an upsize in revolver capacity. As a result, Consolidated expects to have access to additional capital to accelerate fiber deployment and the company expects to reduce its net leverage ratio to 3.5x upon the receipt of the entire $425M investment. The company intends to use the proceeds from this investment to enhance its fiber infrastructure and accelerate investments in high-growth areas of its business. The first stage of the investment is not subject to any regulatory approvals and is expected to occur concurrently with the refinancing, subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions. The second stage of the investment is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The parties expect to close the second stage of the investment in mid-2021, subject to satisfaction of these conditions.