Global gaming firm Light & Wonder, formerly Scientific Games, says it has more than halved its debt after completing a series of debt refinancing transactions using the proceeds from the recent sale of its lottery business.
The refinancing has included retiring an existing US$4 billion term loan and redeeming US$3 billion in secured and unsecured notes, while securing a new US$2.2 billion term loan facility and entering into a new US$750 million revolving credit facility.
In total, outstanding debt has been reduced from US$8.8 billion to US$4.0 billion and the company’s net debt leverage ratio from 6.2x to below 3.9x, reducing annual interest payments by US$225 million.
Light & Wonder said its next priorities would be further reducing its net debt leverage ratio to between 2.5x and 3.5x, share buy-backs to a value of US$750 million and “disciplined investment in key growth opportunities” should they be seen as offering greater long-term value than buy-backs or debt reduction.
“With the sale of our Lottery Business we are making rapid progress executing on our strategy to transform our business,” said Light & Wonder CEO Barry Cottle.
“We see tremendous opportunity to create value for our shareholders and other stakeholders by building great games and franchises to entertain our players wherever and whenever they want to play. The steps we are taking to strengthen our balance sheet will enhance our ability to create value and the speed at which we can unlock that value and achieve our vision of becoming the leading cross-platform global game company.”
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