NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 14, 2004--GE Commercial Finance's Global Media & Communications business announced that it has provided $35 million in senior secured financing to Muzak, the leading company in business music programming in the U.S.
The financing provided by GE Commercial Finance supplements an existing senior secured debt facility and was used by the company to refinance a portion of its outstanding 13% senior discount notes due 2010. The transaction closed on May 10.
Based in Fort Mill, S.C., Muzak's key products are Audio Architecture(SM), business music programming designed to enhance a client's brand image, and Voice(SM), telephone music and marketing on-hold, as well as in-store messaging. Muzak's clients include specialty retailers, restaurants, department stores, supermarkets, drug stores, financial institutions, hotels, health and fitness centers, business offices, manufacturing facilities, and medical centers.
"GE Commercial Finance Global Media & Communications has delivered consistent and valued support to our company throughout our multi-year relationship," said Stephen Villa, Muzak chief operating and financial officer. "This financing will allow us to achieve a significant reduction in our annual interest expense - tangible evidence of GE's ongoing commitment to our company."
"In this transaction, we structured an attractive financing alternative that addressed our client's specific goals and will yield substantial cost savings going forward," said Mark DeCruccio, managing director, GE Commercial Finance Global Media & Communications. "The transaction illustrates our group's commitment to deliver not just products and services, but also financing solutions that are rigorously designed with fundamental client interests and needs in mind."
About GE Commercial Finance Global Media & Communications
With over $6 billion in assets and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Delhi, London, New York, Norwalk, and San Francisco, Global Media & Communications represents a "one-stop" source for the comprehensive range of GE's lending and other structured finance services offered to the media, communications, and technology industries. Key segments include radio and television broadcasting, cable, entertainment, movie theatres, outdoor advertising, publishing, technology, towers, wireless, and wireline. GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over $220 billion and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. General Electric (NYSE:GE) is a diversified technology, media and financial services company dedicated to creating products that make life better. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
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