Stockholm-based TeliaSonera has issued €500m of 20-year notes under its existing €12bn euro medium term note programme.
BNP Paribas, Barclays, Credit Agricole and Goldman Sachs were joint bookrunners on the offering, which has a re-offer yield of…
Stockholm-based TeliaSonera has issued €500m of 20-year notes under its existing €12bn euro medium term note programme.
BNP Paribas, Barclays, Credit Agricole and Goldman Sachs were joint bookrunners on the offering, which has a re-offer yield of 1.7% per annum, equal to 63 bps over mid-swaps.
In a statement, TeliaSonera CFO Christian Luiga said: “This deal clearly demonstrates the large appetite for good credit quality in long-dated maturities.”
TeliaSonera is currently in the middle of a significant capex effort in Sweden where it is investing in its 4G and fibre networks. Last October, ratings agency Moody’s changed the outlook on the telco’s ratings to negative.
At the time, Moody’s vice president Ivan Palacios said: “Changing the outlook on to negative reflects our expectation that the company will incur negative free cash flow over the next couple of years, as a result of its strategic decision to fund a major capex initiative while maintaining a stable dividend.”
“While the company plans to fund these investments from existing cash, its net debt position will deteriorate, potentially putting further pressure on already weak credit metrics for the A3 rating category, if underlying business conditions do not improve.”
However, Moody’s said the investment could better position the operator for future earnings growth.
TeliaSonera is also looking to grow through M&A and recently received clearance from the Norwegian antitrust regulator to merge its local unit in the country with that of fellow Swedish group Tele2.
