Level 3 Communications, Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Level 3 Financing, Inc., has successfully completed the marketing of the refinancing of its $2.0 billion senior secured Tranche B 2022 Term Loan and received commitments to borrow an aggregate $2.0 billion principal amount of a new senior secured Tranche B-II 2022 Term Loan.

Upon closing, the new Tranche B-II 2022 Term Loan will bear interest at LIBOR plus 2.75 percent, with a minimum LIBOR of 0.75 percent, and will mature on May 31, 2022. The Tranche B-II 2022 Term Loan was priced to lenders at par, with the payment to the lenders of an upfront 25 basis point fee at closing.

The Tranche B 2022 Term Loan has an interest rate of LIBOR plus 3.50 percent, with a minimum LIBOR of 1.00 percent and a maturity date of Jan. 31, 2022. The company anticipates saving approximately $20 million of cash interest expense initially, on an annualized basis.

As a result of this transaction, along with capital markets transactions completed earlier this quarter, the company expects to recognize a loss in the second quarter of 2015 of approximately $176 million on extinguishment of debt.

Level 3 Communications, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company that provides local, national and global communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. Level 3's comprehensive portfolio of secure, managed solutions includes fiber and infrastructure solutions; IP-based voice and data communications; wide-area Ethernet services; video and content distribution; data center and cloud-based solutions. Level 3 serves customers in more than 500 markets in over 60 countries over a global services platform anchored by owned fiber networks on three continents and connected by extensive undersea facilities.