Ardagh Glass will fund its acquisition of Rexam through a new EUR 338M syndicated credit facility provided by a group of banks led by Anglo Irish & a EUR 300M bridge facility provided by Citigroup, the company said 12 March. Ardagh said it plans to refinance the bridge facility with new senior high-yield notes. The issue will probably be made within the next few months & have a 10y tenor. Ardagh has EUR 175M existing 8.875% cash-pay bonds & EUR 143.2m of 10.75% payment-in-kind notes, according to its 3Q/06 results. It was reported that Ardagh had no plans for early redemption of PIK notes. However, credit analyst R Clarke said Ardagh Glass' shareholders may separately look to buy back these at a later stage in the market, given that the PIKs, which mature in 2015, accrue at around EUR 16M/pa & given that there is only a small equity contribution for the acquisition.
