Holders of top-ranking Urban One bonds have said yes to a buyback of lower-ranking debt, funding new investments — or further borrowing — so long as it makes fiscal sense. It’s a move disclosed in a SEC filing following the sale of real estate in Charlotte by the company founded by Cathy Hughes and today run by her son, Alfred Liggins III.
Urban One said it received consent from holders of a majority of its First Lien Notes, the debt with first claim on the company’s collateral, to sign a Second Supplemental Indenture that expands the permitted uses of proceeds from certain asset sales and makes other technical amendments.
The amendment covers cash from the sale of real property at 400 Radio Road by Charlotte Broadcasting LLC, and the sale of Urban One’s 40% economic interest in a property at 9201 Nations Ford Road that the document describes as majority-owned by Beasley Media Group.
Neither the filing nor the attached exhibit names a buyer or a price, or says whether either sale has been signed.
Once Urban One receives the cash, it has 45 days to choose how to use it. The company can buy back some of its second-lien bonds, which are repaid after first-lien debt, on the open market, invest or commit to invest in new assets in the Charlotte market, or split the money between the two. Any Charlotte assets it acquires must be pledged as collateral for those bonds.
The investment route comes with a test. An officer must certify that the purchase would reduce the company’s leverage ratio, which compares its debt to its cash flow, by more than a buyback would. Projected synergies, meaning expected savings and added earnings from the deal, can count for no more than 20% of the company’s cash flow, as the agreement defines it, in that calculation.
If a Charlotte investment is canceled or not completed within 180 days, the money must go toward second-lien buybacks within 45 days. Anything left after that must go to the uses the bond agreement already required, within 10 business days.
In December 2025, Radio Ink reported that Urban One completed an exchange in which 97.6% of holders of its 7.375% senior secured notes due 2028 swapped into 7.625% Second Lien Senior Secured Notes due 2031, pushing those obligations out by three years. The deal also included a $60.6 million issuance of 10.5% First Lien Senior Secured Notes, backstopped in full by a group of supporting noteholders.
