Ligado Networks LLC on Monday asked investors to supply $4.3 billion in debt financing, offering lofty interest rates to compensate for risks surrounding the company’s efforts to develop a swath of radio frequencies amid opposition from the Pentagon, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Bankers at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Jefferies LLC are marketing $3.26 billion in senior bonds for Ligado at an initial offer of 13 percent annual interest and a 4 percent discount off face value. Ligado also is seeking to raise more than $1 billion in junior debt at 16 percent interest, entirely paid in-kind, meaning only at maturity, the people said. The spectrum venture needs the bond proceeds to refinance debt coming due in December that could otherwise tip Ligado into its second bankruptcy since 2012. Moody’s Investors Service deemed the bond offering a speculative investment, citing the “significant execution hurdles and uncertainties” to the company’s ambitions to develop wireless applications for its spectrum license holdings. Yet the company is angling for capital as corporate debt issuance has surged during the coronavirus pandemic, fueled by sweeping interventions by the Federal Reserve that opened up access to credit markets even for troubled or risky borrowers.
