German telecoms and internet services provider Freenet has secured a €300m (US$413m) revolving credit line to refinance existing debt.
The Frankfurt-listed company said the new five-year syndicated facility will be drawn down at Euribor plus a margin…
German telecoms and internet services provider Freenet has secured a €300m (US$413m) revolving credit line to refinance existing debt.
The Frankfurt-listed company said the new five-year syndicated facility will be drawn down at Euribor plus a margin that amounts to 0.95% at its current debt ratio.
Commerzbank was the coordinating mandated lead arranger for the transaction. Bayerische Landesbank, HSH Nordbank, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg, Norddeutsche Landesbank and Unicredit were also mandated lead arrangers.
Proceeds will be used to repay a €240m syndicated credit line due at the end of Q1 2014 and act as an “early safeguard” to ensure repayment of a €400m bond due April 2016.
CFO Joachim Preisig said the new credit line has “improved overall terms at investment-grade level”. The new credit line includes covenants specifying a maximum debt factor of 2.5x and an equity ratio of at least 30%.
Freenet, which has a market capitalisation of €2.66bn (US$3.66bn), reported revenues of €2.37bn (US$3.26bn) and EBITDA of €263m (US$362.04m) for the first nine months of 2013. Net financial debt totalled €471.9m (US$649.56m) as of 30 September.
