What happened
Shares of telecom infrastructure-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) Uniti Group (UNIT 8.10%) fell more than 12% on Tuesday, following a debt sale announcement.
So what
Uniti Fiber Holdings, a subsidiary of Uniti Group, plans to sell as much as $345 million of exchangeable senior notes. The notes will be exchangeable into cash, shares of Uniti Group stock, or a combination of the two. Uniti Group will also guarantee the notes.
Uniti intends to use part of the proceeds of the notes offering to pay down roughly $100 million of outstanding debt.
As part of the notes offering, Uniti intends to enter into hedge transactions with some of the initial purchasers to reduce the potential dilution of its stock upon any exchange of the notes. However, Uniti also intends to enter into warrant transactions that could dilute shareholders, should owners of the warrants choose to exercise them in the future.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
With the stock down sharply today, investors appear displeased with the terms of the debt sale and the potential dilution it could bring about. But Uniti Group is struggling to overcome the bankruptcy of its largest customer, and it probably didn't have the leverage to negotiate better terms with creditors. It's a difficult position to be in, but if the cash Uniti Group receives as part of the debt sale helps to put it on stronger financial footing, it could turn out to be the correct long-term move for the company.
