Vivendi is talking to banks about €7 billion of loans for the proposed spinoff later this year of SFR, said Bloomberg.

The financing is split between a credit line of €1.5 billion and term loans worth €5.5 billion, according to sources.

Vivendi and SFR will both seek investment-grade credit ratings after the spinoff.

“We’re looking at the allocation of debt between SFR and Vivendi and discussing that with ratings agencies,” SFR CEO Jean-Yves Charlier said yesterday.

“We have one plan, and only one — it’s splitting SFR from Vivendi,” he added, in further confirmation that a previously mooted sale of the operator to cable firm Numericable is well off the agenda.

Charlier’s comments earlier this week about the well-advanced state of plans for a SFR spinoff had already made that clear.

The aim is for a listing in early July, said Charlier, following a filing of details with regulators by March and then a request to shareholders for approval in June.

Vivendi is negotiating with as many as 16 banks about the loan, which will be part-repaid after a stock listing, said sources. Another possibility is a sale of bonds to replace some of the loans, they said.