NextWave Wireless Receives $100 Million Debt Financing Commitment

NextWave Wireless, a global provider of wireless broadband and mobile multimedia products, today announced that, subject to certain conditions, it has received a commitment from Avenue Capital Management II, L.P. and Sola to provide $100 million of new financing through the issuance of senior-subordinated secured second-lien notes. Through a combination of cost reduction actions, the planned divestiture of its infrastructure businesses and the sale of other business assets, the $100 million in net proceeds from the financing is projected to fund NextWave's business operations into 2010.


"This financing will provide the runway we need to execute our strategic plan in an orderly and efficient manner. It will allow us to seek to maximize the value of our assets, including our spectrum, as we implement a global restructuring of our business," said Allen Salmasi, chief executive officer and president of NextWave Wireless. "To help conserve cash, we are working to divest our infrastructure business units in the near term. In addition, we have recently taken important steps to reduce our operating costs including reducing our global workforce by over 20 percent and scaling back corporate overhead expenses."http://www.nextwave.com

In April 2008, NextWave announced that it had retained Deutsche Bank and UBS Investment Bank to sell its U.S. spectrum assets. The company has also retained Canaccord Adams to sell its Canadian spectrum assets.

Also in April, NextWave Wireless announced its NW2000 Wave 2-ready family of second-generation mobile WiMAX chipsets designed for high-volume, small form-factor wireless broadband subscriber stations, including CPE modems, PC card modems, laptops, multimode/smartphone handsets and mobile multimedia terminals.