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LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC on Thursday said it is planning to raise GBP500.0 million in new debt through the issue of new equity-linked bonds and the purchase of cash-settled call options to hedge the company's equity exposure resulting from the bond issue.
Vodafone said that, as the conversion rights on the bonds will be cash-settled, the issue and conversion of the bonds will not result in the issue of any new Vodafone shares, meaning no dilution for shareholders. The conversion price will be 30% above a share reference price to be announced by Vodafone around December 3.
The mobile phone operator intends to use the funds from the bond issue for general corporate purposes and to cover the cash-settled call option purchases.
The bonds due in 2020 will carry a coupon in a range from 0.4% to 1.2% per annum, to be determined by an accelerated bookbuild being conducted by Morgan Stanley & Co as sole global coordinator, together with HSBC Bank PLC, part of HSBC Holdings PLC, as join bookrunner.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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