Chorus increases bank facility, pushes out maturity date for increased flexibility, certainty

Thursday 25th May 2017

Chorus, the telecommunications network operator, has increased its bank facility and pushed out the maturity date, giving it additional financial flexibility and funding certainty.

The Wellington-based company increased the amount of its existing syndicated facility with seven banks to $350 million from $250 million and extended the maturity date to May 2020 from May 2019, it said in a statement. The facility is currently undrawn.

Chorus said the facility had also been repriced to reflect current market rates and the covenants have been revised from 4 to 4.75 times debt to ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) and 3.0 to 2.75 times interest coverage, to better align with Chorus’ rating thresholds.

Chorus issued $400 million in fixed-rate New Zealand bonds in May 2016 (repayable in 2021) and 500 million euro of notes in October 2016 (repayable in 2023). The proceeds from these bond issues allowed Chorus to repay and cancel a $1.25 billion bank facility and repay all drawings under the remaining $250 million banking facility. Chorus also has 260 million pound of notes due in April 2020.

The shares advanced 0.7 percent to $4.52, and have gained 13 percent this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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