KIPCO – the Kuwait Projects Company - announced today that it has raised another €200 million under its US$ 2 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme (EMTN) which was launched earlier this year.
The 2-year floating rate note maturing on November 27, 2008 is listed and tradable on the London Stock Exchange. The paper is priced at a re-offer spread of 55 bps over the 3-month Euribor.
The proceeds of the issue have been used to pay or pre-pay existing higher cost liabilities resulting in a cost saving of around 100 bps on the amount raised. This continues KIPCO’s strategy of diversifying its investor base and reducing its overall cost of funds. Both KIPCO and the notes issued under the EMTN programme have been assigned a BBB-/Positive Outlook rating by Standard & Poor’s.
Mr Faisal Al Ayyar, Managing Director & CEO of KIPCO, said:
“Five years ago, KIPCO was the first corporate in the Gulf region to issue KIBOR based floating rate bonds. This new issue under our EMTN programme further demonstrates our leadership position because this is the first time that a corporate from this region has issued a two year tranche. We are delighted with the market’s response to the offer.”
Mr Al Ayyar added:
“We created this further opportunity within our EMTN programme because we wanted to target investors beyond the Gulf region – especially in the European market – which would allow us to bring a broader range of investors into our credit. The success of this issue is a reflection of our on-going dialogue with international investors who welcome our transparency and understand our business strategy.”
This latest issue of KIPCO’s EMTN was over subscribed and the order book closed at €237 million. Of the final allocated amount of €200 million, investors in the UK, France and Germany bought around 20% each and investors in Austria bought around 15%. The rest of the issue was broadly distributed with Asian investors taking 5% of the remainder. Banks purchased 48% of the note, fund managers bought 46% and insurers 6%.
Kuwait Projects Co. (Cayman) announced the Final Terms for the issuance of EUR 200,000,000 Floating Rate Notes due November 2008. The following Final Terms are available for viewing.
Final Terms for Kuwait Projects Co. (Cayman)'s EUR 200,000,000 Floating Rate Notes due November 2008 (the "Notes") issued under the U.S.$2,000,000,000 EMTN Programme of Kuwait Projects Co. (Cayman) as issuer and Kuwait Projects Company (Holding) K.S.C. (Closed) as guarantor.
The Final Terms contain the final terms of the Notes and must be read in conjunction with the Base Prospectus dated 24 March 2006 and the supplemental Base Prospectus dated 22 November 2006 that relates to the Programme.
www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7554m_-2006-11-27.pdf
The Base Prospectus and the supplemental Base Prospectus together constitute a base prospectus for the purposes of the Prospectus Directive (Directive 2003/71/EC), and is available for viewing at
www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3180a_-2006-3-24.pdf and at
www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/5080m_-2006-11-22.pdf.
