Global satellite operator SES has raised US$1bn through an inaugural dollar-denominated bond offering.
The company sold US$750m of 3.6% senior unsecured notes due 2023 and US$250m of 5.3% senior unsecured notes due 2043.
The ten-year notes priced at…
Global satellite operator SES has raised US$1bn through an inaugural dollar-denominated bond offering.
The company sold US$750m of 3.6% senior unsecured notes due 2023 and US$250m of 5.3% senior unsecured notes due 2043.
The ten-year notes priced at 99.518% to yield 3.167%, while the thirty-year notes priced at 99.213% to yield 5.342%. Final pricing came at the tight end of the guidance on both tranches.
SatelliteFinance understands that there was a mix of US and European banks working on the deal with BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Societe Generale, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and RBS lead bookrunners on the transaction.
SES, which issued the notes through SES Global Americas Holdings, stated that net proceeds would be used to refinance existing debt and for general corporate purposes.
The company has approximately US$1.04bn worth of debt facilities due to mature this year, split between €500m (US$660m) of 4.375% fixed rate notes due on 21 October, a US$343m series A 5.29% term loan and a £24m (US$37) 5.63% series D term loan that both mature in September.
SES said that it sought to conduct the financing in the United States as part of a strategic plan to diversify its bond investor base and have an established transaction in the largest capital market in the world.
The continued bond market appetite for corporate financings shows no sign of abating and institutional investors in the US have been particularly receptive to new issuances. To that end, SES’ inaugural bond is believed substantially oversubscribed with the ten-year notes around four times oversubscribed and the thirty-year notes just over three times. Overall the consolidated orderbooks reached around US$4bn.
US-based accounts took the lion’s share of the notes, purchasing 84% of the 10-year and 90% of the 30-year notes.
The settlement date for the bonds, which are rated Baa2/BBB, is 4 April.
