Paramount Skydance syndicates $111bn Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition financing across 18-bank consortium as bridge loan commitments are restructured
Paramount Skydance has restructured and widened the debt financing package behind its proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, syndicating bridge loan commitments across 18 banks to reduce concentration risk for the original lenders. The company entered into a new credit agreement on 7 April 2026 with Citibank acting as administrative agent and collateral agent. BofA Securities, Citibank, Apollo Global Funding, Deutsche Bank Securities, and Wells Fargo Securities served as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners, while Bank of America acted as syndication agent. The syndication — spreading exposure previously held more heavily by Citi, Bank of America, and Apollo — is a standard pre-closing financing management step in large-scale M&A, reducing single-lender exposure and signalling that the broader lending market has confidence in the transaction proceeding. The deal, which would combine two of the largest US media conglomerates, represents one of the most significant media M&A transactions of the decade. The widening of lender participation typically reflects both borrower credibility and market appetite for the underlying credit risk. Equity support for the deal was separately noted as adding momentum to the financing. Regulatory clearance remains a condition to closing, and the scale of the combination will attract scrutiny from competition authorities on both sides of the Atlantic.
Why this matters
A transaction of this scale activates virtually every major corporate practice area simultaneously: public M&A, leveraged finance (debt raised to finance an acquisition), regulatory merger control, and capital markets. The 18-bank syndication is significant because it demonstrates that, despite market volatility driven by the Iran war and rate uncertainty, the leveraged lending market remains open for trophy assets. The 'why now' trigger is the need to lock in financing terms before market conditions shift further — bridge loans (short-term debt that bridges the gap between signing and closing) are expensive to hold, so syndicating them out early is a standard risk management move. Law firms advising on the financing will be running extensive CP (conditions precedent — the contractual requirements that must be satisfied before funds can be drawn) checklist management and security documentation work ahead of closing.
On the Ground
A trainee on the financing side would be managing the CP checklist, coordinating execution of facility agreement schedules, and tracking the drawdown mechanics across the 18-bank syndicate. On the M&A side, a trainee would be updating the SPA (share purchase agreement) schedules to reflect the revised financing structure and assisting with board minute preparation.
Interview prep
Soundbite
At $111bn, the syndication breadth is a live stress-test of whether leveraged lending markets can absorb mega-deal financing under rate pressure.
Question you might get
“What are the key legal risks for a lender joining a bridge loan syndicate at this stage of an $111bn acquisition, and what protections would you expect to see in the credit agreement?”
Full answer
Paramount Skydance has restructured the acquisition debt for its proposed $111bn takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, syndicating bridge loan commitments across 18 banks with Citibank as administrative agent. The commercial significance is that widening lender participation reduces concentration risk and provides a signal of market confidence at a time when interest rate uncertainty — driven partly by the Iran conflict — is making large debt packages more expensive. This fits a broader pattern of sponsors and strategic acquirers front-loading their financing syndications earlier in the deal timeline to insulate against market disruption. This suggests that while mega-deal volumes remain elevated, the cost and complexity of financing them is increasing, which will sustain leveraged finance and banking advisory mandates throughout 2026.
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