Discovery Communications, with Bank of America as administrative agent, amended its credit agreement of February 4, 2016. According to a related 8-K filing, the lenders agreed to the following modifications:

  • In connection with the Scripps Network acquisition and certain related transactions, Discovery agreed to have Scripps Networks Interactive become a guarantor under the agreement following the closing of the acquisition.
  • The aggregate revolving commitments were increased from $2 billion to $2.5 billion.
  • The maturity date was extended from February 4, 2021 to August 11, 2022.
  • The financial covenants were modified to reset the level for the consolidated leverage ratio financial covenant to 5.50 to 1.00, with step-downs to 5.00 to 1.00 and to 4.50 to 1.00, one year and two years after the closing of the Scripps acquisition, respectively, and certain other changes to permit the incurrence of debt to finance the Scripps acquisition prior to the closing.

Concurrently, Discovery and its subsidiary DCL entered into a term loan agreement with Goldman Sachs Bank USA, as administrative agent. The term loan agreement provided for total commitments of $1 billion in a three-year tranche and $1 billion in a five-year tranche, for an aggregate principal amount of $2 billion. The proceeds of the term loan facility will be used to pay a portion of the cash consideration in connection with the Scripps acquisition and pay some or all of the related fees and expenses.