Last checked at 13 Sep 2010 12:00
X5 RETAIL GROUP announces early refinancing of syndicate loan with new club loan
Amsterdam, 13th September 2010 - X5 Retail Group N.V. (LSE ticker: "FIVE"), Russia's largest retailer in terms of sales, today announced that the Company has signed a new club loan with a total amount of USD 800 million to refinance the existing USD 1.1 billion syndicate facility, which was put in place in 2007 and was due to mature in December 2010. The rest of the syndicate facility will be refinanced through other existing facilities, including the forward start facility provided by Sberbank.
UniCredit acted as sole co-ordinator on behalf of X5.
The following 10 international banks participated as Mandated Lead Arrangers: Banca Intesa, ZAO Banque Societe Generale Vostok, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank A.G., Credit Agricole CIB ZAO, ING Bank N.V., OJSC Nordea Bank, ZAO Raiffeisenbank, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG, ZAO UniCredit Bank, UniCredit Bank Austria AG, WestLB AG.
The new club loan is for three years, consists of USD-denominated and RUR-denominated facilities (each equivalent of USD 400 million) and will pay a margin of 2.50% over MosPrime/LIBOR, for both the RUR and USD lines. No collateral is provided for these facilities.
X5 Retail Group CFO Evgeny Kornilov commented:
"We are pleased to announce this new deal, which reflects the best conditions available on the market for the best players and fully meets X5's requirements, including currency mix, margins and release of collateral.
The deal once again confirms our strong relationship with major international financial institutions and their continuous support for X5's business. The dual currency structure of these facilities enables significant reduction of X5's currency exposure in line with our risk policy.
The new club loan is fully in line with our objectives for a diversified debt portfolio and provides additional flexibility in managing the Company's liquidity and debt maturities."
Note to Editors:
X5 Retail Group N.V. is Russia's largest retailer in terms of sales. The Company was created as a result of a merger between Pyaterochka (soft discounter chain) and Perekrestok (supermarket chain) on 18 May 2006. In June 2008, X5 acquired Karusel hypermarket chain and substantially strengthened its position in hypermarket format.
As at 30 June 2010, X5 had 1,514 Company-managed stores located in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other regions of European Russia, Urals and Ukraine, including 1,135 soft discount stores, 275 supermarkets, 62 hypermarkets and 42 convenience stores.
As at 30 June 2010, X5's franchisees operated 610 stores across Russia.
For the full year 2009 X5's net sales totaled USD 8,717 mln, EBITDA reached USD 736 mln, and net profit amounted to USD 165 mln.
For the first half 2010, net sales totaled USD 5,184 mln, EBITDA reached USD 399 mln, and net profit amounted to USD 104 mln.
X5 Shareholder structure is as follows: Alfa Group - 47.9%, founders of Pyaterochka - 23.1%, X5 Management - 1.9%, treasury shares - 0.1%, free float - 27.0%.
Forward looking statements:
This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not only relate to historical or current events. Forward-looking statements often use words such as" anticipate", "target", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "expected", "plan", "goal" believe", or other words of similar meaning.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances, a number of which are beyond X5 Retail Group N.V.'s control. As a result, actual future results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in these forward-looking statements.
Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of X5 Retail Group N.V. speak only as at the date of this announcement. Save as required by any applicable laws or regulations, X5 Retail Group N.V. undertakes no obligation publicly to release the results of any revisions to any forward-looking statements in this document that may occur due to any change in its expectations or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document.
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| Anastasiya Kvon X5 Retail Group IR Manager Tel.: +7 (495) 662-8888, ext. 22 452 e-mail: anastasiya.kvon@x5.ru | Nigel Adamson UniCredit Corporate & Investment Banking Tel: +44 207 826-1518 e-mail: nigel.adamson@unicreditgroup.eu
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