Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Integra Telecom Adds Investors To Restructure Balance Sheet

Portland-based Integra Telecom has reduced the firm's debt load, saying Wednesday that it has inked a deal with Goldman, Sachs & Co., Tennenbaum Capital Partners, and funds managed by Farallon Capital Management LLC, along with Warburg Pincus and its other private equity investors, to restructure the firm's $1.3 billion in debt to approximately $600M. The deal includes conversion of Integra's senior secured second lien operating company debt and unsecured parent company debt into common equity. Integra is a CLEC serving Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington, providing phone and other related services to customers. The firm brought on significant debt in its purchase of Eschelon Telecom in 2007, and has been hit recently by the economic downturn and more churn in its customer base.