GameStop to raise $950 million to pay for EB

The wedding's been arranged; now all GameStop has to do is pay for it.

When GameStop first announced its impending acquisition of Electronics Boutique, it said it would be giving EB stockholders $1.44 billion in cash and stock in a buyout it preferred to call "a definitive merger agreement."

Today the company's began fundraising efforts for the merger, offering to sell $950 million in notes to investors that it will repay in six or seven years with interest. Specifically, the company is selling $300 million in full-priced Senior Floating Rate Notes that will bear interest at the London Inter Bank Offering Rate (LIBOR), plus 3.875 percent, and $650 million in Senior Notes priced at 98.688 percent, with a fixed interest of 8 percent. The Senior Floating Rate Notes mature on October 1, 2011, while the Senior Notes won't come to term until October 1, 2012.

The offer's only good for a limited time, of course, as GameStop needs the scratch in advance of the expected October closing of the merger agreement. The offering is expected to end by Wednesday. If the merger doesn't close by October 31, all the notes will be redeemed.