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The Stamford Advocate, Stamford, Conn.

Sep. 17--A California-based broadcasting business has tapped Stamford-based GE Commercial Finance's Global Media & Communications business in Norwalk for $95 million in senior secured financing for its International Media Group Inc., a television broadcasting company targeting the Asian and Asian-American communities.

The $95 million facility for International Media, a majority-owned unit of Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity firm in Los Angeles, is comprised of an $80 million term loan and a $15 million in revolving credit, which will be used for working capital and to refinance existing debt. As administrative agent for the facility, GE Commercial Finance committed $50 million to the arrangement. The transaction closed Sept. 9. IMG owns and operates KSCI-TV (covering Los Angeles) and KIKU-TV (covering Honolulu), representing a strong market presence in the first and fifth largest Asian communities in the U.S., respectively. The IMG airs and produces Asian and English language paid, syndicated and local programming.

GE Commercial's Global Media & Communications team brings an impressive resume of knowledge, experience and commitment to the transaction, said Peter Mathes, chief executive officer and president of International Media Group.

"It significantly enhanced our debt structure and provided essential, additional capital for our company's future initiatives," said Mathes, appointed in April to expand the unit's position as a provider of Asian language television in the United States.

Mathes has said the Asian audience has been underserved. KSCI was the first television station in the nation to provide diversified international programming to the multi-lingual Asian and Asian-American communities.

"The multi-cultural TV broadcasting sector is vibrant and growing, and our group welcomed the opportunity to leverage our experience for IMG," said David Harrington, senior vice president of GE Global Media & Communications. "We hope to be viewed as a valued financial services provider who can support IMG's plans to maintain and extend its success." Based on research done by GE Commercial's Global Media & Communications unit in Norwalk, GE Commercial Finance is confident that Leonard Green & Partners has a solid financial background and has exhibited the ability to handle the loan, said Ned Reynolds, spokesman for GE Commercial Finance. With more than $6 billion in assets and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Delhi, London, New York City and San Francisco, Global Media & Communications offers lending and other structured finance services to the media, communications and technology industries.

Key segments include radio and television broadcasting, cable, entertainment, movie theaters, outdoor advertising, publishing, technology, towers, wireless and wireline.

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