LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC on Thursday said it has raised GBP600.0 million in new debt through the placement 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.
Shares in Vodafone were up 1.1% at 222.73 pence Thursday afternoon.
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.
Settlement and closing is scheduled to take place next Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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Vodafone (VOD)