Greencore, the Irish food and agribusiness plc, has completed a private placement of $302 million in senior notes with nine institutional investors.
The notes were issued in US dollars and sterling and comprise $130 million, $72 million and $100 million in seven, 10 and 12 year maturities respectively, repayable in 2010, 2013 and 2015.
The average maturity of the new financing exceeds nine years while the average interest rates are 5.47pc and 5.76pc for the dollar and sterling components respectively.
The funds raised are being used to repay existing bank borrowings and will lengthen the company’s debt maturity profile. The US dollar element of the financing has been swapped into sterling.
The initial offer of $150 million was almost three times subscribed, enabling the company to increase the issue size to $302 million whilst achieving an attractive coupon.
This is the second private placement by an Irish corporate in recent times, following on from Bord Gais’ $375 million placement in September. |
