Paramount Skydance said Thursday it is launching a syndication to raise $7.5 billion through a proposed senior secured incremental tranche of term "B" loans.

The David Ellison-led company will use the funds toward its $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger and to pay down certain other debt. In total, Paramount now intends to raise approximately $44.4 billion of additional secured debt, in addition to previously announced financings, subject to market and other conditions.

"Paramount intends to utilize the net proceeds of these borrowings, together with cash on hand and the net proceeds of the previously announced equity financing, to finance the purchase price for its previously announced acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. and the repayment of certain existing debt," Paramount said.

The borrowing will weigh on the combined company. At the end of 2026, on a pro-forma basis, the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. would have net debt of $77.2 billion, Morgan Stanley analysts estimated in a report Tuesday. With the additional loans Paramount is seeking to secure, that estimate will likely be revised upward.

The deal itself is close to the finish line. Paramount reached a settlement with 12 state attorneys general to resolve their antitrust lawsuit over the pact. The judge in the case has scheduled a hearing Thursday to go over points of the proposed consent decree. Pending the judge's approval, the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger is expected to close in about two weeks.

Not everyone has conceded. The groups behind the Block the Merger coalition filed an emergency request asking U.S. District Court Judge Martínez-Olguín "to grant interested parties the opportunity to formally oppose the weak and unenforceable consent decree that state attorneys general entered into with Paramount on Monday."

The financing behind the takeover draws on some of the wealthiest names in business. Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison, who is David's father, has personally guaranteed $46.7 billion in equity financing for the WBD takeover. Paramount has also lined up $24 billion in commitments from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. According to Paramount, the three Middle Eastern funds would own 38.5% of the combined Paramount-Warner Bros.

If the judge signs off on the consent decree in the coming days, the merger would close with a capital structure that leans heavily on Middle Eastern sovereign money and the personal fortune of one Silicon Valley billionaire — and on debt markets willing to absorb billions more in leveraged loans.