spacetoday.net: Globalstar reaches debt refinancing deal

Posted: Wed, May 22, 2013, 10:37 AM ET (1437 GMT)
Satellite communications company Globalstar announced this week that it reach a deal with bondholders to refinance the company's debt, allowing the company to focus on its business operations. Under the deal, boldholders will exchange their existing 5.75% notes that were now due with 8% notes due in 2028. The agreement also includes principal terms of a longer-term debt restructuring deal with Coface, the French export credit agency that backed a 2009 financing deal. The restructuring was required when Globalstar's existing notes came due in April; the company worked out a series of short-term extensions until the new deal could be finalized. The deal, the company said, will free up capital to devote to building up the business and making use of the company's second-generation satellite constellation, whose latest spacecraft were launched earlier this year.