total, Armacell raised EUR 622 million of first-lien term debt, increasing the existing first lien term debt by EUR 140 million. The newly raised funds will repay the existing second lien debt in full, as well as some drawings made under the revolving credit facility for recent acquisitions. The margin on the first lien term debt was substantially reduced from Euribor + 450 bps to Euribor + 350 bps; the margin on the revolving credit facility was reduced to Euribor + 325 bps.

This transaction will result in annual cash interest savings of approx. EUR 9 million. Combined with the repricing executed in September 2016, Armacell will save approx. EUR 15 million interests cost p.a. relative to the LBO financing executed in February 2016.

Commenting on the repricing, Patrick Mathieu, President & CEO of Armacell International S.A., said: “Since the acquisition by Blackstone and KIRKBI, Armacell has demonstrated a strong operating and financial performance. The fact that the recent issuance was multiple times oversubscribed underlines the long-term attractiveness of our business model, allowing Armacell to gain additional operating flexibility.”

Dr. Max Padberg, CFO of Armacell International S.A., added: “Thanks to the overwhelming demand from investors and continuous good market conditions we are able to further optimise our capital structure. With the two recent repricing transactions, we successfully reduced interest costs by more than 30%. The resulting higher free cash flow will be utilized to reduce our leverage and support the continuous growth of Armacell.”

The re-pricing was arranged by Deutsche Bank (Global Co-ordinator), HSBC and BNP. Both Moody's (B3/Stable) and Standard & Poor’s (B/Stable) have reaffirmed their corporate ratings on 27 February and 6 March 2017 respectively.