HeidelbergCement has taken another step to optimise the financing of the Italcementi acquisition. The volume of the bridge financing could be reduced by further €500 million from €3.8 billion to €3.3 billion. The refinancing needs in the bond market declined by €500 million to around €2.5 billion, correspondingly.
Decisive for the reduction of the financing volume was that some of Italcementi’s creditor banks have agreed to waive their change of control clauses. As a consequence, HeidelbergCement will have access to additional credit lines totaling €500 million on a long-term basis also after the takeover. Therefore, refinancing of these credit lines after the acquisition is no longer necessary, and the volume of the bridge financing could be reduced accordingly. As already communicated in the announcement of the Italcementi acquisition, the bridge financing should be refinanced by free cash flow, the sale of production sites and the issuance of bonds. The reduction in the volume of bridge financing thus also reduces the need for refinancing in the bond market by the same amount.
Adapted from press release by Joseph Green