5th Mar 2019 09:08
LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC on Tuesday said it plans to raise around EUR4 billion through the issue of mandatory convertible bonds to fund the acquisition of US cable firm Liberty Global's assets.
The sterling denominated bonds are to be issued in two tranches maturing no later than March 2021 and 2022 respectively, with the initial conversion price to be announced by Vodafone after the market close on Friday.
The coupon for both tranches is expected to be 1.4% to 1.7% per annum and 1.7% to 2.0% per annum respectively.
The number of shares into which the bonds are convertible are expected to represent 9.8% of Vodafone's current share capital.
Shares in the blue chip telecommunications firm were up 2.5% at 134.62 pence on Tuesday.
Proceeds from the bond issue will go towards partly financing the acquisition of Liberty Global assets in Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, as well as bank loan refinancing and corporate purposes.
In May, Vodafone announced a deal which will see it acquire the "highly complementary" operations of Liberty Global in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania for an enterprise value of EUR18.4 billion.
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