MEXICO CITY-Nuevo Grupo Iusacell, S.A. de C.V., Mexico City, placed privately Dec. 9 a $350 million issue of 14.25 percent senior notes due 2006 that it will use to expand its digital network capacity and coverage.
Of the net proceeds, $134 million will be placed in an escrow account to pay the first six semi-annual interest payments.
The remainder will be used “primarily to fund recent capital expenditures, future investments in (our) existing cellular operations … and for general corporate purposes,” the company said.
Nuevo Grupo is the holding company for Iusacell, which is Mexico’s second largest cellular carrier. It had planned this deal as a $225 million debt private placement to be sold in October.
However, it postponed the transaction because Bell Atlantic Corp., which holds a stake of about 40 percent, was examining possibilities for linkages between Iusacell and other cellular properties in northern Mexico. Bell Atlantic ended those negotiations last month.
Chase Securities and Salomon Smith Barney were joint lead managers of the private placement of notes. The issue received speculative grade ratings of B1 and B+ from Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s Corp., respectively.
