Bids for Charter Communications' credit facility have slipped to 99 1/2 from close to par due to a heavy supply of cable paper, dealers said. "There's a lot of cable paper out there. Insight is in the market," one remarked. Another dealer confirmed the level and agreed that the excess of paper from various companies is the cause. Charter, based in St. Louis, Mo., is a domestic cable operator. The company is going out for a high-yield offering of $850 million and went on a road show last Friday. Calls to Kent Kalkwarf, cfo, were referred to a spokeswoman, who declined to comment.
In early December, Russell Solomon, analyst at Moody's Investors Service, said he had downgraded a few names in the rural cable sector (LMW, 12/11). He said some names are facing increasing pressure from providers, tightening liquidity, and added that they do not have financial flexibility. Yet in November, Charter was trading at 99 7/8 following Moody's revised outlook for the company to positive from stable. J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, FleetBoston Financial, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Credit Lyonnais lead the $4.1 billion deal.