Drinks giant Pernod Ricard has set the terms of its new Euro-denominated bond issue for an aggregate amount of €500 million across 1-tranche of eight years.
The company said that the 'favourable market conditions', coupled with the positive reception from investors to the issuance' enabled Pernod Ricard to price the issuance at a coupon of 0.125%.
The net proceeds of the issuance will be used with for 'general corporate purposes', it said, including for the total redemption of the existing EUR 500 million notes due September 2023 with a 1.875% coupon through the exercise of the make whole-call option.
An application will be made for the bonds to be admitted to trading on Euronext Paris, while the bonds are expected to be rated Baa1 by Moody’s and BBB+ by Standard & Poor’s.
The Whisky Exchange Acquisition
Last week, the group announced the takeover of leading online spirits retailer The Whisky Exchange, with which it is seeking to meet 'new consumer needs and expectations', both in terms of the demand for e-commerce solutions and premiuimisation.
“E-commerce is a key channel in our long term strategy," Alexandre Ricard, chairman and chief executive of Pernod Ricard, said of the acquisition.
Elsewhere, at the start of September, Pernod Ricard reported full year sales of €8.82 billion, after seeing organic growth of 9.7% (4.5% reported).
It saw double-digit growth in several key markets – its Americas business was up 14% – while in Europe, sales grew by 4%.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. For more Drinks news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
