28th Mar 2007 08:40
Compagnie de Saint-Gobain28 March 2007 March 28, 2007 Press release SUCCESSFULL LAUNCH OF A DUAL-TRANCHE EUR 2.5 BILLION BOND OFFERING CONSISTING OF - A EUR 1,250 Mn tranche, 5-year maturity, floating rate Quarterly coupon of Euribor 3-months + 25bp - A EUR 1,250 Mn tranche, 10-year maturity, fixed rate Annual coupon of 4.75% Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, whose long-term senior debt is rated BBB+ by Standard& Poor's and Baa1 by Moody's, set yesterday the terms of its new benchmark bondissue denominated in Euros. The dual-tranche issue was particularly well received by investors. Due to thevolume and quality of investor demand (orderbook over EUR 6 Bn), the respectivespreads at launch were set at the bottom of the initial price-guidance(respectively 28bp and 50bp over mid-swap rate on the 5 and 10 year tranche),and the final size of the bond issue was increased from initial €1.5Bn to€2.5Bn. This transaction underlines bond investors' confidence in the creditquality of Saint-Gobain, whose last issuance on the Euro bond market was in May2006. Placement was made across a diversified basis of investors, as indicated below: 5-year tranche 10-year tranche - France 27% 30% - UK 30% 25% - Germany/Austria 22% 16% - Benelux 2% 13% - Italy/Iberia 11% 5% - Asset managers 36% 35% - Insurance/Pension Funds 6% 32% - Banks 53% 30% This bond issue is the largest ever done by Saint-Gobain. The proceeds will beused to refinance existing debt and for general corporate purposes. ABN AMRO, Citigroup, Dresdner Kleinwort and SG CIB acted as lead managers forthis bond issue. Investor Relations department Florence Triou-Teixeira Tel.: +33 1 47 62 45 19 Alexandre Etuy Tel.: +33 1 47 62 37 15 Fax: +33 1 47 62 50 62 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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