Wall Street banks have wrapped up a roughly $52 billion debt sale to help fund the $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, according to Bloomberg.
Apollo Global Management Inc., Bank of America and Citigroup provided the initial debt financing for the acquisition. Per the outlet, they sold approximately $30 billion in investment-grade debt, $12.4 billion in junk bonds and $9.46 billion in loans in just a week.
The update comes after Bloomberg reported that investors faced more than $100 million in paper losses after the combined company’s bonds started trading on Thursday, which led to the banks facing a flood of angry complaints from money managers.
Skydance Chief Financial Officer Dennis Cinelli dismissed the selloff as “one-day choppiness in the market,” telling Bloomberg it entered “not for a one-day trade, but to execute a transformative transaction to create a next-generation entertainment and technology company.” Citigroup’s Leon Kalvaria, chairman of the institutional clients group, added that the financing “turned out incredibly well in a choppy market.”
Representatives for Apollo and Citigroup declined to comment, while Skydance and Bank of America did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
The debt sale comes as the merger is slated to close on Oct. 6, with the combined company expected to carry around $80 billion in debt.
The combined company, which has been named Skydance, will begin trading on the NYSE on Oct. 6 under the ticker symbol SKYD. The company will distribute warrants to purchase shares on Oct. 13.
While the deal isn’t officially closed, David Ellison has already started shaking up the combined company’s leadership team, tapping HBO CEO Casey Bloys to run Paramount+ and HBO Max, with Paramount Streaming head Cindy Holland exiting on Tuesday. The company also recruited Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz to serve as co-CEO of the combined company.
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