Bonduelle announces its comeback to the US Private Placement market through the successful refinancing of Ready Pac Foods acquisition

 BONDUELLE 

A French SCA (Partnership Limited by Shares) with a capital of 56,000,000 Euros
Head Office: La Woestyne 59173 Renescure, France
Registred under number: 447 250 044 (Dunkerque Commercial and Companies Register)

Villeneuve d'Ascq, France, 6^th of July 2017 - Information Release

Bonduelle announces its comeback to the US Private Placement market through the successful refinancing of Ready Pac Foods acquisition.

Bonduelle finalized, under particularly attractive conditions, the refinancing operations associated with the acquisition of Ready Pac Foods.

On March 21^st, Bonduelle announced that it had fully completed the acquisition of Ready Pac Foods for a total amount of $ 409 million.

This operation was financed through a bridge loan of $ 279 million with an initial term of one year and a $ 130 million amortizing bank loan with a five years maturity.

This operation was carried out jointly with Crédit Agricole Nord de France and Crédit Agricole CIB.

The successful syndication process with the pool of existing banks as well as with 3 new foreign banks, together with the particularly attractive margin conditions have led Bonduelle to increase the total amount of the bank loan from $ 130 million to $ 200 million.

At the same time, looking for additional maturity, Bonduelle issued on July 6, 2017, a new Private Placement in the US market (USPP) split into 2 tranches of respectively € 150 million and $ 50 million. These two tranches both have a maturity of 10 years and bring the group's total debt average maturity to almost 5 years.

Bonduelle, being a repeat issuer on the USPP market since 2000, has been able to deal this private placement under particularly competitive conditions both in euros and US dollars, from a pool of historical investors who have renewed its confidence in the group as well as a new investor.

Bonduelle was advised by BNP Paribas and Natixis, acting as agents, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher as counsel.

Through this operation, Bonduelle pursues its policy of partial disintermediation and diversification of its financing sources (banks, USPP, EuroPP,...) by further expanding its platform of both banking and non-bank financial partners, guaranteeing  independence and competitiveness of its indebtedness' cost, and thus reflects its post Ready Pac Foods acquisition investment grade profile.

IR Contacts:
BONDUELLE - [email protected]

Press Contacts / Public relations agency:
Benjamin ZEHNDER - RP carrées - Tel: +33.(0)6.76.41.18.19
Email: [email protected]
Vanessa VAZZAZ - RP carrées - Tel: +33.(0)3.28.52.07.42 / M : +33.(0)6.34.32.24.23
Email: [email protected]

About Bonduelle

Bonduelle, a family business, was established in 1853. Its mission is to be the world reference in "well-living" through vegetable products. Prioritising innovation and long-term vision, the group is diversifying its operations and geographical presence. Its vegetable, grown over more than 130,000 hectares all over the world, are sold in 100 countries under various brand names and through various distribution channels and technologies. Expert in agro-industry with 58 industrial sites or own agricultural production, Bonduelle produces quality products by selecting the best crop areas close to its customers.
Bonduelle is listed on Euronext compartment B
Euronext indices: CAC MID & SMALL - CAC ALL TRADABLE - CAC ALL SHARES
Bonduelle is part of the Gaïa non-financial performance index and employee shareholder index (I.A.S.)
Code ISIN : FR0000063935 - Code Reuters : BOND.PA - Code Bloomberg : BON FP

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