Issue seven times oversubscribed – 5.875 per cent coupon
Duisburg, January 21, 2010: Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, the Holding Company of the Haniel Group, today issued a euro benchmark bond with a seven-year term. Demand exceeded the 500-million-euro issue seven-fold. The bond has a coupon of 5.875 per cent.
"Financial investors clearly continue to have great confidence in Haniel's portfolio and strategy," explains Haniel Chairman Prof. Jürgen Kluge. "We have very successfully placed two securities within less than four months." The seven-year euro benchmark bond was available for subscription this morning by European institutional investors. Its principal totalled 500 million euros. With aggregate demand reaching more than 3.6 billion euros, the bond was seven times oversubscribed. The coupon was fixed at 5.875 per cent, and the issue was handled by Calyon, UniCredit, BayernLB, HeLaBa and LBBW. The bond was allocated this afternoon.
"As previously announced," comments Haniel Managing Board member Stefan Meister, "we will employ the inflow of funds from the bond to discharge the full amount of bank liabilities of Haniel Beteiligungsfinanzierungs-GmbH & Co. KG." This company, a fully consolidated subsidiary of the Holding Company, was used by Haniel to finance the acquisition of 16 per cent METRO AG shares in 2007. A part of the original financing, in the amount of 1 billion euros, has already been repaid. For this purpose, Haniel used the proceeds of the five-year euro benchmark bond it issued in October 2009. The demand for this security was likewise so strong that some prospective investors missed out. The five-year bond had a total principal of 1 billion euros and a coupon of 6.75 per cent.
