iHM Extends Deadline For Bondholders

San Antonio-based iHeartMedia Inc. said Friday it has extended the deadline on an offer to bond investors to exchange $625 million in notes that are due next year and pay 10 percent with debt that won’t be due until 2021 and pay a higher yield of 11.25 percent.

According to The News-Express, iHeartMedia is offering a premium on the new bonds in an effort to delay final payment on roughly $10 billion in debt that matures by the end of 2019.

The offer previously had been set to expire Thursday night and will now expire at 4 p.m. Monday, Texas time, unless further extended by subsidiary iHeartCommunications.

As of the end of Jan. 19, about $625.2 million in principal amount or approximately 73.6 percent, of the notes, including about $503 million held by iHeartMedia subsidiaries, has been offered up for exchange.

The radio and billboard giant is struggling to repay its more than $20 billion in outstanding debt, most of which stems from its 2008 leveraged buyout by two Boston-based private equity firms.