Lumen Technologies is in talks with its bank lenders to win support for a debt deal that would push out the telecommunications network operator’s maturities on billions of dollars in debt and raise fresh capital, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Louisiana-based Lumen late last year said it reached a debt swap agreement with a group of creditors. Lenders for its revolving credit line led by Bank of America weren’t part of the discussions that led to the restructuring deal. The signoff from its revolver lenders is likely the last hurdle Lumen faces before completing the debt restructuring transaction. Late last year, the company announced that it had pushed back the date of completion of the transaction to the end of January after earlier disclosing in a securities filing that the deal was set to expire if it wasn’t completed by the end of 2023. Large bondholders who negotiated the deal include Citadel Capital, Pacific Investment Management Co., Franklin Resources, Brigade Capital Management, BlackRock and Silver Point Capital. “We have made significant progress to date with our creditors,” Chris Stansbury, chief financial officer at Lumen, said in an emailed statement. “We have ample liquidity, and we are playing to win.” Formerly known as CenturyLink, Lumen grew bigger through several takeovers including a $25 billion merger with Level 3 Communications in 2017. The company is grappling with $20 billion in debt, much of which comes due in the next several years.
