HeidelbergCement secures liquidity until the end of 2013

HeidelbergCement has signed a new self-arranged €3 billion syndicated credit facility that will be used for repaying bank debt remaining under the old credit facility that had been agreed with 60 banks in June 2009 with a maturity in December 2011. The new credit facility is mainly intended as liquidity back-up and has a maturity date of 31 December 2013. HeidelbergCement thereby strengthens its financial and operational flexibility. At the same time, the security package granted to the creditors could be reduced significantly compared with the old credit facility.

“The new syndicated credit facility agreement secures sufficient liquidity for our company until the end of 2013 at clearly better conditions,” says Dr Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement. “The fact that we were able to keep the number of institutions for such a sizeable credit line on a low level reflects the strength of our relationships with the banks. The stabilisation of our financing is another important milestone on our way to improved credit ratings and a benefit for the existing bond holders.”

The new, syndicated credit facility has been concluded with the following 17 banks: Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Bayern LB, BNP/Fortis, Citigroup, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Svenska Handelsbanken, Helaba, ING, Intesa, LBBW, Mediobanca, Morgan Stanley, Nordea, RBS, RZB and SEB. The syndicated credit facility can be used for cash draw downs as well as for letters of credit and guarantees. The credit margin is clearly lower than for the existing syndicated credit facility and would improve further with a declining ratio of net debt to EBITDA.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/29042010/heidelbergcement_secures_liquidity_until_the_end_of_2013/