Yellow Media has announced a plan to cut its debt to $850 million and find new board members as the struggling directories publisher continues its transition to an online and digital media company.
The Montreal company announced the recapitalization transaction on Monday and said some of the debt will come due in 2018.
The company said its total debt is about $1.8 billion. It will use credit facilities, debentures and cash in the recapitalization transaction.
A search committee also has been set up to find new board members for the company.
“The recapitalization is consistent with the company’s previously stated objective of significantly deleveraging its balance sheet and allowing us to focus on the execution of our ongoing business transformation,” president and chief executive Marc Tellier said in a news release.
In May, rating agency DBRS downgraded Yellow Media to CCC from a low B, saying the decline in its print revenues was continuing and warned of possible further downgrades.
The company recently reported a first-quarter loss of $2.9 billion and wrote down the value of its assets by about $3 billion.
Like many companies in the communications and publishing sector, Yellow Pages has been hit hard by changes in consumer behaviour as internet services dominate the information world.
