Sinclair Broadcast Seeks $530 Million of Loans for Purchases

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. (SBGI), a television broadcaster, plans to add as much as $530 million of term loans under an existing credit agreement to help pay for its purchase of TV stations from Four Points Media and Freedom Communications Inc.

Sinclair proposed adding $280 million to a $222.5 million term loan B due in October 2016, and $250 million to a $115 million term A piece that matures in March 2016, the company said today in a statement distributed by PR Newswire.

The company, based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, has agreed to purchase broadcast assets from Freedom Communications for $385 million, according to a Nov. 2 statement. In September, it said it was buying Four Points Media television stations from Cerberus Capital Management LP for $200 million.

Sinclair also plans to increase the size of its revolving credit line to $100 million, from $75.4 million, and extend its maturity to March 2016 from 2013, according to today’s statement.

In a revolving credit, money can be borrowed again once it’s repaid; in a term loan, it can’t. A term loan B is sold mainly to non-bank lenders such as collateralized loan obligations, mutual funds and hedge funds, while a term loan A is sold mainly to banks.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Idzelis in New York at cidzelis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Faris Khan at fkhan33@bloomberg.net