WorldCom met with its seven biggest lenders last Thursday as market players speculate that a $750 million term loan could be a part of the company's new financing plan. WorldCom, does not need the cash from a term loan, but rather the backstop liquidity, a trader said. The company will look to avoid the term loan because it comes at a higher price, a dealer explained. The bank group will probably balk at a revolver because if the company decides to draw the line they will have the same exposure to the company as a fully funded term loan without a higher price to compensate for the risk, he noted.
Names such as Calpine have succeeded in tapping the institutional market for $1 billion in funds, but the market is wondering if investors still have any appetite for telecom paper. The company wants to add the $750 million line to its current $1.6 billion revolver for a combined $2.35 billion credit with summer 2006 maturity. Calls to the company's spokesman, Brad Burns, were not returned by press time.