May 21 - A group of major banks spearheaded by JPMorgan has increased the size of a loan package arranged for Warner Bros Discovery to more than $10 billion, per terms seen on Thursday. The move is part of the media company's effort to refinance existing obligations as it prepares for a planned merger with Paramount Skydance.
The U.S. dollar term loan was expanded to $9 billion from $5 billion, while a separate 1 billion euro loan remained at its prior size, the terms show. The transaction lists JPMorgan, Barclays, BNP, Deutsche Bank, NatWest, RBC, UBS, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs as bookrunners on the deal.
The financing is timed as Paramount advances with its planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a transaction valued at about $110 billion that was signed recently after Netflix declined to raise its offer. If completed, the merger would unite Paramount assets such as CBS, MTV, Comedy Central and BET with Warner Bros Discovery properties including CNN, TNT and Food Network.
Separately, JPMorgan has already earned $189 million in financing and other fees tied to Warner Bros-related transactions, a figure reported in January. The terms documentation also notes the euro component of the loan alongside the dollar tranche; exchange-rate notation in the materials cites $1 = 0.8610 euros.
The package reflects a sizable syndicated financing arranged on behalf of a major media company at a time when a multi-hundred-billion-dollar merger is moving forward. The expanded dollar facility raises the total principal available to Warner Bros Discovery above $10 billion when combined with the unchanged euro loan.
Market participants named as bookrunners cover a broad cross-section of global banks, indicating multiple institutions are sharing underwriting and distribution duties for the facilities. The deal structure, as described in the terms, retains the euro facility at its original amount while significantly increasing the dollar term loan component.
Key contextual point - The financing action is positioned as refinancing ahead of the planned merger and is presented in the terms documentation circulated on Thursday.