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UCB announces today that it has completed the placement (the “Offering”) of €500 million senior unsecured bonds, due 2016 (the “Bonds”).
The Bonds were placed through an accelerated book building placement with institutional investors in Europe. The transaction was conducted by ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (to be renamed The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V. in due course), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Calyon, Commerzbank, ING Bank and Mizuho Corporate Bank, acting as Lead Managers for the Offering. BNP Paribas Fortis and Santander will act as Co-Managers for the Offering.
The Bonds will be issued at 99.635 per cent and redeemed at 100 per cent of their principal amount and will have a coupon of 5.75 per cent per annum. The Bonds will mature on the 7th anniversary of their issue, in 2016. The bonds are expected to be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.
The payment date will be 10 December 2009.
In recent weeks, UCB has diversified its debt portfolio well in advance of the maturity of its existing bank facility through the issue of three different bond offerings. The total amount raised of €1.75 billion will be completely used for the refinancing of UCB’s existing bank facility. As a further step to complete this refinancing and to establish a more extended and balanced debt maturity profile, UCB is discussing a new bank facility with its core banks.
Detlef Thielgen, Chief Financial Officer, UCB, commented, “We are again very pleased with the confidence investors have shown in us through their positive response to our bond offerings. The success of our latest offering underlines UCB’s access to the debt capital markets and allows us to further diversify our international lender base and extend our debt maturity profile. In this way UCB is establishing a balanced and phased portfolio of debt instruments well ahead of the maturity of its existing bank facility.”
