Lightpath, a subsidiary of Altice (ATUS.US), plans to issue US$2.8 billion fiber ABS to deal with US$7.2 billion debt due in 2027

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Cablevision Lightpath LLC is an optical fiber communication service provider controlled by Altice USA Inc. (ATUS.US). The company is currently planning to sell asset-backed securities totaling up to $2.8 billion. According to a July 3 filing with the New York Public Service Commission, these securities will be supported by the company's fiber-optic network assets (including pipelines and cables) and customer agreements.

Currently, Lightpath is under heavy debt pressure. The company has a total debt of 7.2 billion US dollars due in 2027, and another 5.4 billion US dollars of debt due in the following year. To address debt issues, Lightpath is actively seeking financing through asset-backed securities.

Affected by this news, Altice USA shares rose sharply by 16% on Tuesday. In fact, as early as this year, Altice USA had negotiations with creditors to restructure its total debt of up to $25.3 billion. However, according to reports at the time, the relevant negotiations were put on hold in April due to market fluctuations caused by the tariff policy.

As of now, representatives from Lightpath, Altice USA, and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, a minority shareholder of Lightpath, have not responded to the news.

It is worth noting that recently, the asset-backed securities (ABS) market, which uses infrastructure such as optical fiber cables as collateral, has developed rapidly and has become one of the important channels for corporate financing. For example, Zayo Group Holdings Inc. also issued a total of $1.5 billion of such bonds earlier this year, showing strong market interest in infrastructure asset-backed securities.