Global Tel*Link Said to Set Rate on $605 Million Buyout Loan

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Global Tel*Link Corp., the provider of calling services to inmates, set the rate on a $605 million term loan backing its purchase by American Securities LLC, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction.

The debt due in six years will pay interest at 600 basis points more than the London interbank offered rate, said the person, who declined to be identified because the terms are private. The lending benchmark will have a floor of 1.5 percent, the person said.

Credit Suisse Group AG, the bank arranging the financing, is offering the debt at 97 cents on the dollar, reducing proceeds for the borrower and boosting yield to investors.

The company is also seeking a $50 million revolving line of credit maturing in five years, said the person

American Securities is acquiring the Mobile, Alabama-based company from Veritas Capital and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s GS Direct LLC investing unit. The firms purchased the company from Gores Group LLC for $345 million in February 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Anne Board, spokeswoman for American Securities, didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

In a revolving credit facility, money can be borrowed again once it’s repaid; in a term loan, it can’t.

--Editors: Faris Khan, Chapin Wright

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Amato in New York at mamato3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Faris Khan at fkhan33@bloomberg.net