Web.com Group, a provider of internet services and online marketing solutions for small businesses, announced it has increased its first lien credit facility at an improved interest rate, and used the proceeds from the increase to retire its more expensive second lien term loan.

Subject to fulfillment of customary closing conditions, the company expects to enter into a revised first lien credit facility, which will include a term loan of $660 million at an interest rate of LIBOR plus 3.50%, with a LIBOR floor of 1.00%, as well as a revolving credit facility of $70 million at an interest rate of LIBOR plus 3.25% with no LIBOR floor.

The company expects to use the proceeds from the increased borrowings under the first lien credit facility to repay in full its second lien term loan, which had a balance of $32 million outstanding on December 31, 2012. The revised first lien credit facility is expected to close later this week. Upon closing, the company's aggregate debt balance will be approximately $711.0 million.

Web.com expects annualized cash interest savings attributable to this transaction to be approximately $6-7 million.  The company currently plans to reinvest a majority of the interest savings in sales and marketing activities, which is consistent with management's stated objective of continuing to accelerate revenue growth, while also delivering strong profitability margins.

"The successful re-pricing of our first lien credit facility and the full repayment of our more expensive second lien term loan further improves our capital structure. It also provides us with the flexibility to further increase investments in growth initiatives, as appropriate, without negatively impacting our bottom line results," noted David Brown, chairman and chief executive officer of Web.com. "Since closing the Network Solutions acquisition less than 18 months ago, we have reduced the debt balance incurred in connection with that acquisition by $70 million and decreased our effective interest rate from 7.6% to 4.4%, which translates to more than $18 million in annualized cash interest savings."

The company also expects to incur approximately $11.4 million in one-time costs in the first quarter, which will be deferred or excluded from non-GAAP results, related to the re-pricing of the first lien credit facility and prepayment of the second lien term loan.