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23 May 2008 13:45
23 May 2008
Thomas Cook Group plc
New credit facility
Thomas Cook Group plc announces that it has agreed terms for a new €1.8bn credit facility, of which €200m is a bonding facility. The new facility is to be underwritten by Barclays Capital, Bayern LB, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, HSBC Bank plc, Lloyds TSB Bank plc, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, and Unicredit (Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG). Barclays Capital, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and Unicredit will act as bookrunners of the facility, with Unicredit acting as coordinator. Syndication is expected to be completed by the end of June 2008.
The credit facility, which will replace the Group's existing facilities, incorporates three year revolving credit and term facilities, each at a margin of 175 bps above EURIBOR/LIBOR, and a bonding facility. Up to €320m of the facility will be available only if the agreement to contribute Condor, the Group's German airline, to Air Berlin is completed or any other disposal of Condor occurs. The remainder of the facility is available for the Group's general corporate purposes, including acquisitions and the €375m existing share buy-back programme.
The Group has made three acquisitions this year (Hotels4U.com, Elegant Resorts and Thomas Cook India/Middle East) and it has also begun to implement the share buy-back programme, having already spent around €100m purchasing shares for cancellation.
Commenting, Ludger Heuberg, Group CFO, said: "We are delighted to have secured this new facility on satisfactory terms, reflecting our strong financial position."
Ends
Enquiries:
Brunswick Group LLP
Laura Cummings 020 7404 5959
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