SUCCESSFULL LAUNCH OF A DUAL-TRANCHE EUR 2.5 BILLION BOND OFFERING CONSISTING OF
- A EUR 1,250 Mn tranche, 5-year maturity, floating rate
Quarterly coupon of Euribor 3-months + 25bp
- A EUR 1,250 Mn tranche, 10-year maturity, fixed rate
Annual coupon of 4.75%
Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, whose long-term senior debt is rated BBB+ by Standard & Poor’s and Baa1 by Moody's, set yesterday the terms of its new benchmark bond issue denominated in Euros.
The dual-tranche issue was particularly well received by investors. Due to the volume and quality of investor demand (orderbook over EUR 6 Bn), the respective spreads at launch were set at the bottom of the initial price-guidance (respectively 28bp and 50bp over mid-swap rate on the 5 and 10 year tranche), and the final size of the bond issue was increased from initial €1.5Bn to €2.5Bn. This transaction underlines bond investors’ confidence in the credit quality of Saint-Gobain, whose last issuance on the Euro bond market was in May 2006.
Placement was made across a diversified basis of investors, as indicated below:
|
5-year tranche |
10-year tranche |
| France |
27% |
30% |
| UK |
30% |
25% |
| Germany/Austria |
22% |
16% |
| Benelux |
2% |
13% |
| Italy/Iberia |
11% |
5% |
| Asset managers |
36% |
35% |
| Insurance/Pension Funds |
6% |
32% |
| Banks |
53% |
30% |
This bond issue is the largest ever done by Saint-Gobain. The proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt and for general corporate purposes.
ABN AMRO, Citigroup, Dresdner Kleinwort and SG CIB acted as lead managers for this bond issue.
March 28, 2007
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