HeidelbergCement has taken another step to optimise the financing of the Italcementi acquisition. The volume of the bridge financing could be reduced by further EUR500m from EUR3.8bn to EUR3.3bn. The refinancing needs in the bond market declined by EUR500m to around EUR2.5bn, correspondingly.
Decisive for the reduction of the financing volume was that some of Italcementi’s creditor banks have agreed to waive their change of control clauses. As a consequence, HeidelbergCement will have access to additional credit lines totaling EUR500m on a long-term basis also after the takeover. Therefore, refinancing of these credit lines after the acquisition is no longer necessary, and the volume of the bridge financing could be reduced accordingly.
As already communicated in the announcement of the Italcementi acquisition, the bridge financing should be refinanced by free cash flow, the sale of production sites and the issuance of bonds. The reduction in the volume of bridge financing thus also reduces the need for refinancing in the bond market by the same amount.
