As Audacy’s pre-packaged Chapter 11 proceedings continue, court filings have revealed that Soros Fund Management will be the largest shareholder of the company when it exits restructuring.
As first reported by Bloomberg, the investment firm has acquired over $400 million of Audacy’s first lien debt as part of the group of debt-holders planning to convert their debt into stock in the company. The filing notes that Soros Fund Management owns debt accounting for $279,874,818.91 in term loans, $135,038,174.76 from Audacy’s revolving credit facility, and a little over $21 million each in Second Lien Notes due in 2027 and 2029. The next largest debtholder listed, SI Capital Commercial Finance LLC, holds over $68 million in debt.
Audacy would become one of a number of media investments held by the investment fund, which through subsidiary Lakestar Finance also financed Latino Media Network’s purchase of eighteen stations from Univision in 2022. The fund also has stakes in Vice Media, podcast company Crooked Media, and hundreds of other companies.
Additionally, a couple of creditors are preparing objections to the bankruptcy court’s approval of Audacy’s restructuring. Audacy’s Los Angeles landlord 5670 Wilshire Owner LLC and Oracle America Inc. are both seeking to have their owed debts paid in the restructuring. SAG/AFTRA filed a response showing concern that the restructuring plan at first did not include language specifying that all existing Collective Bargaining Agreements would be assumed and assigned, with any cure costs paid in the ordinary course, but should the court conditions, modifies, or excludes the agreed-upon language following an amendment added, it will also object.
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com