Carphone Warehouse completes £650m refinancing with lenders
MOBILE phone retailer Carphone Warehouse announced today it has signed a huge refinancing deal with its banks, helping to fund the recent £470m buy out of its joint venture partner Best Buy in Europe.
The London-listed group has sealed two loans worth £650m from its syndicate of lenders, in one of the largest underwritten deals in the UK so far this year.
Barclays, its lead lender and the joint bookrunner on the deal, said the facility was arranged as part of Carphone’s acquisition in June of Best Buy’s 50 per cent interest in its European operations.
The bank said the loan will also help with the “day to day working capital needs.”
The group now has full control of Carphone Warehouse Europe, which operates almost 2,400 stores, on top of its 794 UK stores.