Strong demand for Meggitt debt

16th Jun 2010 07:37

Meggitt, the international aerospace group, has raised $600m through the private placement of US loan notes.The notes are in four series with maturities of seven, ten and twelve years and coupons of between 4.62% and 5.17% and have been placed with leading international institutional investors. The company initially only intended to issue $200m of debt but the offer was more than five times oversubscribed so it took advantage of demand and bumped up the amount while "retaining an attractive coupon". Covenant conditions are similar to those on the company's existing debt.The company said $250m has been drawn down in June 2010 with the balance of $350m to be drawn in October, coinciding with the maturity of some existing fixed rate swaps.The funds raised will replace some of Meggitt's existing bank facilities which were due to expire between 2012 and 2013.